Press Releases

Today, the House Committee on Financial Services, led by Chairman French Hill (AR-02), held a hearing examining how the policies of the Biden Administration contributed to rising cost-of-living pressures for American families. Members reviewed the improvements under President Trump and the legislative solutions the Committee has advanced to restore affordability, expand opportunity, and make the American Dream attainable for all Americans.

On the Committee’s Agenda:

Chairman French Hill said, “While the broader economy has improved, affordability challenges remain for many households. That is why Republicans on this Committee continue to introduce legislation that addresses this problem head-on. We have direct solutions to improve the cost of living for all Americans. Throughout the 119th Congress, we have unveiled legislative policies that work to reinvigorate our banking system, expand access to credit, and remove unnecessary regulatory burdens.”

On Rising Housing Costs:

Full Committee Vice Chairman Bill Huizenga (MI-04) said, “We have seen barrier after barrier after barrier be put up by every level of government, including with zoning, at the local level, the state level, and, yes, the Federal level. Mr. Brooks, you hit the nail on the head with your discussion about why local banks and regional banks are no longer holding mortgages because of a disincentive under Dodd-Frank. It is radically changed how the banking business relates to the real estate and to the housing industry.”

House Committee on Small Business Chairman Roger Williams (TX-25) said, “When housing becomes too expensive, fewer homes get built. That slow down in construction limits community growth, which in turn puts pressure on local small businesses. Small businesses are the backbone of their communities. We've talked about that. Almost 99% of them are small. But when neighborhoods stagnate, entrepreneurs lose opportunities to grow and expand. That's a problem. And from small builders and carpenters to plumbers and welders, housing affordability and small businesses are closely connected. And when one struggles, the other often struggles, as well.”

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) said, “… regulation is the greatest drain on our profitability. … I came across a study, and this was in 2014, that in some markets, over 50% of the cost of a new home is related to government regulation. … You could cut the cost of a new home significantly just by reducing the regulation. And as we look further, there's a lot of regulation that is not even applicable to the business that is having to live by that regulation. And so, if you want to look at the high cost, we need to look at the regulation side.”

On the Main Street Capital Access Act:

Subcommittee on Financial Institutions Chairman Andy Barr (KY-06) said, "Chairman Hill and I introduced the Main Street Act to right size regulations so our community banks can focus on stimulating the local economy and housing market and help Americans achieve the goal of homeownership. Community banks play an outsized role in the housing market – from mortgage lending to residential construction and land development loans. For example, at the end of 2024, the total outstanding volume of family residential construction and land development loans was $89.5 billion across FDIC-insured institutions, with community banks holding 56% of the market share. Unfortunately, the onerous regulations we have self-inflicted on our community institutions has negatively impacted affordability. Fortunately, the Main Street Act will reverse course on these burdensome regulations and supercharge institutions’ ability to serve the local economy.

On the INVEST Act:

Subcommittee on Capital Markets Chairman Ann Wagner (MO-02)  said, "As chair of the Capital Markets Subcommittee, one of my main goals has been to address this lack of access. As you said earlier, Mr. O’Leary, it’s the whole deal — access to capital. That’s why I led the INVEST Act, a package of 22 bipartisan bills that will strengthen our capital markets, expand investment opportunities for everyday Americans, and provide greater access to capital for Main Street."

Task Force on Monetary Policy, Treasury Market Resilience, and Economic Prosperity Chairman Frank Lucas (OK-03) questioned witnesses on how the INVEST Act gives opportunity for all Americans to invest, to which Mr. Kevin O’Leary answered, “Getting access to capital is the whole deal actually. Because if you see how small businesses, … when they go to their local bank, a regional bank, and say, look, ‘I’m holding $5 million of receivables. … Can you give me a rotating loan?’ Rarely do they get that. So they go to the hard factoring market, which today is between 17 and 23 percent. That is effectively all the profit they're going to make because on average they make 15 percent pretax. And sometimes it's punitive, but they have to go to those markets to afford the next order … The system is very broken because they're the best credit risk we have — the American consumer themselves.”

The Witnesses Echoed the Work of the Committee:

Mr. Brian Brooks, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Meridian Capital Group said, “The problem the Committee is addressing today has a number of dimensions, and it is important to unpack them so we better define the problem we are trying to solve. Most Americans know that everything got more expensive over the past five years as the country experienced the highest inflation since the 1970s. Not as many people know that house price inflation was dramatically worse than inflation as a whole. Between 1991 and 2025, US home prices increased roughly 330 percent, while consumer prices rose about 137 percent, meaning housing inflation was literally twice as bad as background CPI inflation. And of course Americans looking to buy a home care not only about the price of the home, but about the cost of financing a home. While there have been times when cheap credit fueled higher home prices, that is not the case today: Interest rates remain persistently high, and regulatory pressures that have reduced banks ability to serve the mortgage market have created a problem of credit supply that is almost as significant as the problem of housing supply itself.”

Mr. Kevin O'Leary, Chairman, O'Leary Ventures said, “Another policy I want to address involves the digital asset ecosystem. In 2025, the GENIUS Act was enacted, modernizing U.S. payments and settlement systems by establishing a clear regulatory framework for the operation and issuing of stablecoins. Many small businesses are interested in using stablecoins to reduce transactional costs. However, for stablecoins to reach their full potential, comprehensive digital asset market structure legislation, like the CLARITY Act, must also be enacted. Without clear rules of the road, digital assets, including stablecoins, cannot fully realize their potential. The Senate is currently debating the CLARITY Act, with one of the key issues centered on paying interest on stablecoins. The hallmark of the American economy has never been about more regulation and less innovation. Enacting the CLARITY Act will enhance efficiency in the financial services sector and help reduce transactional costs and fee friction.”

Mr. Stephen Moore, Co-Founder, Unleash Prosperity said, “These high costs of buying a house in blue cities and states are especially remarkable, because as we've shown scores of times on these pages, millions of people are moving out of blue states. But leftist urban planners keep raising the cost of buying a home even when demand is falling. Leftist politicians are killing the American dream of home ownership. The cities in green in the chart below are the red cities and the blue shaded cities are leftist cities. The downpayment requirements to buy a home in a major blue city are about three to 10 times more years of work to buy the average valued home.”