News List

This morning, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Treasury Department announced an agreement to deprive taxpayers of the compensation to which they are legally entitled under the ongoing conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs).  This agreement alters the practice that has been in place for more than half a decade to determine how to compensate… Read more »

On Wednesday, the House voted to pass H.R. 4015, the Corporate Governance Reform and Transparency Act of 2017. Institutional investors typically hold shares in a large number of public companies and often use investment advisors – known as proxy advisory firms – to vote on their behalf at shareholder meetings. However, the two largest proxy advisory firms make up approximately 97% of the… Read more »

Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) issued the following statement on the Senate Banking Committee’s vote to block the nomination of Scott Garrett to lead the Export-Import Bank: “The Export-Import Bank remains the poster child for corporate welfare.  If it must remain, it must be under the leadership of a true reformer like Scott Garrett.  It is… Read more »

Today, the House voted 288-130 to pass H.R. 3312, the Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2017, with bipartisan support. This bill – sponsored by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) and cosponsored by both Republicans and Democrats in the House – removes the arbitrary $50 billion asset threshold used in the Dodd-Frank Act to automatically designate certain financial institutions as… Read more »

The Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade held a hearing today to examine the operations and challenges of the multi-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The panel examines proposed foreign investments in the U.S. and can advise the president to block deals on national security grounds. “The statute under which CFIUS operates has not been updated in a… Read more »

The House of Representatives passed two important bipartisan pieces of legislation from the Financial Services Committee on Thursday that would cut outdated Washington regulations and increase Congressional oversight of business Treasury authorizes with Iran. H.R. 2396, the Privacy Notification and Technical Clarification Act Sponsored by Representative David Trott (R-MI), the Privacy… Read more »

The House on Wednesday passed the bipartisan “Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act” (H.R. 1638), which would make public the assets of top political and military leaders in Iran and how those assets are being used. Public reporting of the sources and uses of the concentrated wealth held by top Iranian leaders will help businesses throughout the world better choose legitimate… Read more »

This week, the Financial Services Committee approved 13 bills on a range of subjects from economic growth, to consumer protection, to Native American housing and human trafficking. This week’s markup follows a very productive year for the Committee, which has held 54 subcommittee hearings, 12 full committee hearings, and seven full committee markups since January, and has seen 31 of its… Read more »

The House passed bipartisan legislation on Tuesday that provides important regulatory relief for small banks and credit unions and protects consumer access to mortgage credit. The CFPB’s expansion of escrow requirements and guidance on escrow and mortgage servicing requirements are prime examples of the regulatory burden placed on community financial institutions. With the smaller staff… Read more »

By Jeb Hensarling December 12, 2017 There has been much news recently about who lawfully controls the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an appointee of Barack Obama or an appointee of Donald Trump. The CFPB may provide great political theater, but it represents profoundly bad government. Instead of allowing this controversy to devolve into… Read more »