Volcker Rule Regulatory Harmonization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. EMMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4790, which makes important changes to our financial regulatory system that will provide clarity and consistency for our community financial institutions.

I want to thank my colleague from Arkansas for bringing this important legislation forward. The Volcker rule, a creation of the Dodd-Frank Act, sought to prohibit reckless trading and investment strategies to protect consumers. Instead, it has led to yet another overly complex one-size-fits-all regulatory regime that adds additional pressure on our already overregulated community banks.

The complexities of this rule and its unintended consequences have been acknowledged by the current and prior administration as well as by Members on both sides of the aisle. The mere fact that five different agencies: the Fed; the FDIC; Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the OCC; Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC; and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC, are responsible for implementing and enforcing one rule should tell the American people everything they need to know about how fragmented and confusing the Volcker rule can be.

That is why I am pleased to see H.R. 4790, the Volcker Rule Regulatory Harmonization Act come before the House today to provide an exemption for our small community financial institutions and to streamline the regulatory authority of the Volcker rule.

Mr. Speaker, this bill will free up banks on Main Street Minnesota and in towns all across the country, allowing them to spend more time lending to consumers and small businesses and less time wondering if the heavy hand of the Federal Government is going to come crashing down on him.

Again, I thank Mr. Hill for his hard work on this issue and urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 4790.

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