Pete Sessions: “I thank my dear colleague from Dallas for not only yielding, but I want to commend him in working with his committee…”

“I thank my dear colleague from Dallas for not only yielding, but I want to commend him in working with his committee, including the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer), on this awesome legislation. Mr. Speaker, the point is simple: Washington has once again gotten in the way of legitimate business and is harming the American people, the American economy, and job growth in this country by imposing unnecessary and burdensome compliance costs on medium-sized banks all across America. Asset thresholds, regardless of how high or low, are disincentives to growth. There will always be an institution that lies somewhere that is slightly above or below some threshold, but the bottom line is that arbitrary numbers tell us very little about the risk that is actually involved. It is the risk to institutions in America that we should be talking about. So, simply put, the SIFI designation is arbitrary. It simply subjects smaller banks to the same standards as trillion-dollar, globally systematic organizations, which is something that would only make sense here in Washington. The bottom line is, it is an impediment to free economic growth, and it is an impediment that is burdening not only our banks but consumers also. I commend Congressman Luetkemeyer for advancing this important, commonsense regulation. By the way, it has taken several years to get here. We now understand that the American economy can move in the right direction.…”