Blog

The Debt Clock // Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testifies as the national debt continues to climb. The Hoosier // Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN) prepares to question a witness during a March hearing. The Gipper // Chairman Jeb Hensarling waits near a portrait of a young Ronald Reagan as he prepares to address the Conservative Political Action Conference. “Maximize Pressure on Congress” // Secretary Jack Lew answers questions about a blistering new report that revealed the Treasury Department misled the public about the debt limit in order to “maximize pressure on Congress." Article I // Chairman Jeb H... Read More »

April Fools. We are not fans of Dodd-Frank and we’re doing something about it. Under Dodd-Frank (a.k.a. Washington’s Financial Control Law), Wall Street’s “too big to fail” banks have gotten even bigger, while community banks that had nothing to do with the financial crisis are being crushed under bureaucrats’ one-size-fits-all regulations. The harm to consumers has been very real. We can do better. In the coming months, Republicans on the Financial Services Committee will advance a bold alternative that will offer greater opportunity to all and demand more accountability from Washington and ... Read More »

WASHINGTON -- February may be the shortest month of the year, but the Financial Services Committee made every moment count – hosting 8 hearings, 1 markup, and passing bipartisan legislation to modernize federal housing programs, stop executive overreach and provide regulatory relief for Americans on Main Street. 7 photos from the Month of February: The Debt // Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen makes her first public comments since the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates and since the national debt eclipsed $19 trillion. The Markup // Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) leads a markup of the Co... Read More »

READ ON ADOBE SLATE Robert Sherill was a drug dealer. He was young and he made some serious mistakes. In his own words, “When I needed money, I sold drugs.” Eventually his crimes caught up with him and after several years in prison, he emerged resolved to build a better life for himself. The only problem was that no one would take a risk on Robert. He couldn't get a job. He couldn't get a loan. He couldn't even get a bank account. The deck was stacked against him. It was against these odds that Robert decided that if he was going to turn his life around, he needed to start his own business. E... Read More »

House Committee: Treasury Played Politics in Debt Ceiling Debate "The U.S. Treasury for political purposes tried to suppress the existence of backup plans that would allow the government to continue making some payments in the event of a partial government shutdown, according to a newly published report from the House Financial Services Committee." Secret Fed Docs Show Obama Misled Congress, Public During Debt Limit Crises "Federal Reserve Bank of New York officials secretly conducted real-time exercises during the 2011 and 2013 debt-limit crisis that demonstrated the federal government could... Read More »

1. A greater percentage of Americans are working than when I took office. 2. Community banks and credit unions are thriving. 3. Too Big To Fail is a thing of the past. 4. Our regulatory system has been streamlined. 5. Median household income has risen. 6. Taxpayers will never have to bailout Wall Street again. 7. New business startups have increased. Read More »

It’s been a rough start to the year for the Dodd-Frank Act, as yet another nonpartisan study finds evidence that the massive law harms Americans. Not surprisingly, the new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) indicates an “increased compliance burden” among community banks and credit unions, which has “begun to adversely affect some lending activities, such as mortgage lending to customers not typically served by larger financial institutions…” Meaning that, once again, we see that this law supposedly intended to rein in Wall Street is hurting Americans on Main Street. And i... Read More »

Read on Medium In a new report, the Dallas Federal Reserve acknowledged what we all know to be true: community banks are being crushed by the Dodd-Frank Act. The report specifically warned of the consequences of the regulatory burden on small banks saying: “…more than five years after [Dodd-Frank]… smaller community banks are finding it increasingly tough to survive...” “Smaller community banks appear to have a valid concern that their compliance burden is rising and the playing field is becoming more uneven.” The report went on to say: “Regulatory oversight should match the level of risk an i... Read More »

Subcommittee Questions CFPB's Consumer Data Collection Practice On Wednesday the Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing to find answers regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) collection of consumer data. Subcommittee Chairman Sean Duffy (R-WI) warned, "We don’t know – and the American people don’t know – how much personally identifiable information the CFPB retains, how that data is protected and what the Bureau plans to do with all that data." The American Banker reported on Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick's (R-PA) concerns regarding ongoing ... Read More »

Unsustainably low rates didn’t solve the problem. If they had, Americans wouldn’t be stuck in the slowest, worst-performing economic recovery of our lifetimes. Too many people are trapped in part-time work and more Americans than ever before have left the workforce all together. We can and must do better. We need economically sustainable rates. The real question isn’t whether the Fed should be raising interest rates or lowering interest rates; it’s whether the rates are economically sustainable. Market-based interest rates are better for consumers, investors and our economy overall. A more pr... Read More »