Barry Loudermilk: “I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) for yielding this time to debate these important measures. This is a…”

“I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) for yielding this time to debate these important measures. This is a historic moment here in the House. Today, we will be sending the most significant financial regulatory relief legislation to the President's desk in more than a decade. I am proud to have been part of this effort, and I thank all of my colleagues who helped get us to this moment. Madam Speaker, for the past 3\1/2\ years I served in this House, I have been telling the same story over and over again: My home State of Georgia lost 70 banks during the financial crisis, the most of any State in the Nation. Today, 52 of Georgia's counties do not have a community bank headquartered there, and three of Georgia's counties have no bank branch whatsoever. Why? Because of excessive regulatory burden placed on small community banks and credit unions by previous legislative action and through overreach by regulators. Today, we are taking a major step toward reversing that trend by taking bold action and by sending progrowth regulatory relief to small community banks and credit unions to the President's desk. This bill will help ensure that community banks and credit unions will no longer be crushed under the weight of regulations that do not distinguish between them and the largest financial institutions. Much of this bill originally came from House bills--bipartisan, I may add.…”