The House Financial Services Committee dates back to the Civil War, when its predecessor, the Committee on Banking and Currency, was created in 1865 as a part of a major reshuffling of congressional committees. During the Lincoln Administration, in addition to financing the war, Congress established the National Currency Act, which created a national banking system. Congress also passed the National Banking Act to establish the Comptroller of the Currency. Before the Civil War, banking issues were handled by the House Ways and Means Committee.
The original committee had nine members– six Republicans, two Democrats and one Unconditioned Unionist. Over time, 35 people have chaired the committee and its later versions, up until the 119th Congress. The first chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee was Theodore Pomeroy, a two-term Republican from upstate New York who was chosen by House Speaker Schuyler Colfax of Indiana. One of the committees past leaders was U.S. President James A. Garfield of Ohio who was chairman in the 41st Congress (1869–1871).
In the late 19th century, the Banking and Currency Committee oversaw the implementation of a national banking system, composed of national and state-chartered institutions. A generation later, the committee was key in shaping the federal government‘s response to the Great Depression, which included immense changes in the financial landscape, including deposit insurance, the separation of investment and commercial banking, and the formation of housing and savings reforms. After World War II, the committee‘s role expanded to keep up with the needs of a rapidly growing, modern America. Throughout the 20th century, the committee went through several structural changes, including one of the most substantial in the 107th Congress (2001–2003), when securities and capital markets policy areas were shifted from the jurisdiction of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to today’s House Financial Services Committee.
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