On the recordJune 8, 2017
I just want to start off by thanking Chairman Hensarling and the entire Financial Services Committee for their leadership on this vital and important legislation. Job well done. The Financial CHOICE Act answers a deep need at the very heart of our economy. We have heard about this need time and again from our constituents back home. I sure have. Small businesses are struggling. They have been unable to hire, invest, or get the loans that they need to get off the ground. Families looking to keep their money safe are hit with fees that they cannot afford. And why is this? Our community banks are in trouble. They are being crushed by the costly rules imposed on them by the Dodd-Frank Act. This law may have had good intentions, but its consequences have been dire for Main Street. Let me put it this way: It is more than 1,000 pages long and has more rules and regulations than any other Obama-era law. The burdens created are real and deep. These costs are unsustainable for small community banks who simply cannot afford to meet all the requirements and can't hire a team of lawyers to decipher the seemingly endless rules. So what do they do? They hunker down. They are unable to loan out money. Or worse, they are shutting down. The CHOICE Act reins in Dodd-Frank, and it delivers the regulatory relief these small banks so desperately need. This will change our communities because these banks are the lifeblood of our Main Streets.…
