Political Quotes

“I am so pleased to join Mr. Luetkemeyer in supporting his bill. I am so encouraged that this is a bipartisan bill. Listening to the Members opposed, I am concerned that the bill is being highly mischaracterized. It occurred to me that when the Member opposed mentioned that 97 percent of banks would not be affected by this, that it automatically excludes 97 percent of banks from being affected by this. Mr. Luetkemeyer doesn't pick a number and say big is bad. He says: Let's judge the bank by its behavior, not by the size of its balance sheet. This is a rational, measured approach, and that is why it has drawn bipartisan support. It is focused on solving the problem, not driving regulatory burdens. Let me explain that the SIFI designation is an arbitrary number, and it subjects banks with $50 billion or more in assets to the same standards as trillion-dollar globally important financial banks. So a bank with $51 billion would be regulated the same way as JPMorgan Chase, for example. Even former Chair Barney Frank, as has been mentioned, seized the problem. Janet Yellen seized the problem. People look at it and say: What can be a solution? The Federal Reserve has seen a possible solution as judging the character of the business activity. Mr. Luetkemeyer's bill firmly addresses that. A simple asset threshold captures numerous banks that are widely perceived to be no threat to financial stability. It also distorts growth decisions.”