Charles W. Stenholm: “the legislation pending before the House, H.R. 10, the Financial Services Competition Act, contains numerous provisions…”

“the legislation pending before the House, H.R. 10, the Financial Services Competition Act, contains numerous provisions that cause concern. Specifically, I'd like to bring to the attention of the Members of this body the section of the bill that proposes to broadly expand the mission of the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) System. The authorities of the FHLB System would be expanded to provide advances to commercial banks for a variety of purposes, including agricultural lending. I am concerned that this proposal could actually limit credit availability by adversely affecting the two government sponsored enterprises chartered to serve rural markets: the Farm Credit System (FCS) and the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (FarmerMac). Expanding the Federal Home Loan Bank mission will convert every commercial bank with assets of less than $500 million into a retail GSE. As the ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, I have had a keen interest in rural credit availability for many years. Credit is quite literally the lifeblood of our nation's agricultural producers. As a result, I am very interested in new ways to provide additional credit to farmers and rural communities. However, I am concerned that we have not had ample time to fully consider the serious policy implications of expanding the FHLB System's mission.”