Action on Banking and Financial Services

During the 113th Congress, I agreed to sponsor the following selected measures which deal with our nation's banking and financial services industries.  This is not a comprehensive list of all the legislation I have co-sponsored related to banking and financial services.  You can view a comprehensive list at the Legislation Co-Sponsored Section of this site, or through congress.gov.

Legislation I have supported includes:

• Introduced the Dodd-Frank Improvement Act of 2011 and filed it as an amendment to S. 1619 and H.R. 2112. This legislation provides the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the necessary time to undertake rigorous and deliberative analysis to understand the economic impact of their rules. Given the volume, complexity, and potential consequences of the Dodd-Frank rulemaking, the SEC and CFTC need to take the time to get the rules right rather than rushing them through.

• Introduced legislation to protect farmers, manufacturers, energy producers and other non-financial end-users from burdensome Dodd-Frank margin requirements that are using a swap to hedge commercial risk.

• Introduced legislation requiring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to conduct a small business panel on the Qualified Mortgage rule before it can go forward with a final rule.

• Introduced legislation that provides for the implementation of the Volcker rule after the agencies have issued their final rule, rather than the artificial compliance deadline of July 21, 2012.

Other actions I have taken to support and improve banking and financial services in Idaho and throughout the country include:

• Sent letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, Mary Jo White, asking for a stay on SEC requirements that put enormous compliance costs on companies. Read letter here.
• Sent letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, Mary Jo White, asking the Commission to take measures to ensure certainty in the marketplace. Read letter here.
• Sent letter to Securities and Exchange Commisson Chair, Mary Jo White, asking for an extended deadline for comments on proposed Regulation SCI. Read letter here.
• Sent letter to Chairmen Bernanke, Gensler, Gruenberg, White and Comptroller Curry asking them to address certain definitions and compliance standards in the Volcker Rule. Read letter here.
• Sent letter to Federal Reserve seeking accounting of various capital and leverage rulemakings.  Read letter here.
• Sent letter to the Chair of the Securities and Exchanges Commission, Mary Jo White, requesting the Commission to address inconsistencies in the application of margin requirements in the derivatives trading area.  Read letter here.
• Sent letter to Jacob Lew, Chairman of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, regarding the Office of Financial Research's study of the asset management industry. Read the letter here.

• Sent letter to regulators asking they consider alternatives for risk retention rules for Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLO).  Read the letter here.
• Sent letter to five regulators requesting they respond to concerns following the adoption of the final Volcker Rule. Read the letter here.
• Requested agencies implementing Dodd-Frank allow for adequate time for meaningful public comment and conduct rigorous analyses of the costs and benefits of their rules.
• Sent letter to CFPB requesting information regarding the legality of big data collection on consumer spending habits. Full letter can be viewed here. Complete GAO report/response can be found here, as well as charts on data collection and information here and here.
• Sent letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requesting an extended comment period for a new rule that will bolster controls in market participant's technological systems. Read the letter here.

• Sent letter to U.S. Government Accountability Office requesting an investigation into CFPB’s data collection on millions of Americans’  personal credit card, banking, mortgage and student loan information.  Full letter can be viewed here.

• Sent letter to U.S. Government Accountability Office requesting a study to examine the process the Financial Stability Oversight Council uses when designating systematically important financial institutions. Read the letter here.

• Sent letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew regarding money market funds.  Read the letter here.
• Sent letter to SEC Chair Mary Jo White on portfolio margining.  See letter here.
• Sent letter to federal regulators expressing concerns with the final rules adopted for the Volcker Rule.  Read the letter here.
• Sent letter to SEC Chair Mary Jo White on risk retention rules, requesting that the comment period be extended regarding Regulation SCI.  See letter here.
• Sent letter to SEC regarding its conflict mineral rules, questioning its decision to go ahead with rules despite legal uncertainty and large costs. Read letter here.

• Joined House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling in sending a letter to the CFPB regarding potential exposure to legal challenges following the Supreme Court’s ruling in National Labor Relations Board vs. Noel Canning. Read the letter here.

• Sent letter to the Department of Justice demanding answers on "Operation Choke Point." Read the letter here.

• Sent letter to U.S. Government Accountability Office requesting a study to examine the process the Financial Stability Oversight Council uses when designating systematically important financial institutions. Read the letter here. The complete GAO review and response can be found here.