Luke Messer: “I want to thank my coauthor on this bill, Congresswoman Maloney, for her great leadership on this legislation, as well…”

“I want to thank my coauthor on this bill, Congresswoman Maloney, for her great leadership on this legislation, as well as Chairman Huizenga, Chairman Hensarling, Ranking Member Waters, and the entire Financial Services Committee team for their hard work on this important legislation. Mr. Speaker, it is a rare occasion in Washington when Republicans and Democrats can come together and get behind a change to the banking regulations, but we stand here today behind H.R. 1624 because the banking regulators, frankly, well, they messed it up. They created a rule that gives foreign municipalities a competitive advantage over our American cities and towns, and this advantage is hurting our communities. Mr. Speaker, this legislation is really quite simple. It will help cities and towns in my State and across the United States save money on roads and bridges and schools. President Trump has made rebuilding our infrastructure a priority for our Nation, and this bipartisan bill paves the way for this type of investment by lowering the price tag for roads and bridges. H.R. 1624 reverses a backwards banking regulation that makes it more expensive for U.S. municipalities to finance infrastructure projects. Specifically, the bill will amend the regulation to enable more banks to hold municipal bonds to cover their liquidity requirements. This change should reduce the cost of borrowing for cities and towns across the country.…”