>> you can watch the rest of today's journal on c-span.org. we are going to leave you here. general debate on two financial services bills. one dealing with the federal reserve and small banks. the other funding for the financial security oversight board. live coverage of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by chaplain father conroy. haplain conroy: let us pray. merciful god we give you thanks for giving us another day. bless abundantly the members of this people's house. during this season of new growth, may your redemptive power help them to see new ways to productive service, fresh approaches to understanding each other, especially those across the aisle, and renewed commitment to solving the problems facing our nation.

may they, and may we all, be transformed by your grace and better reflect the sense of wonder, even joy, at the opportunities to serve that are ever before us. may all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approve the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from ohio, mr. oetze. mr. mr. against: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute

speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? mr. wilson: permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, last month the director of the defense intelligence agency testified that isil da'ish will attempt mass murder within the united states. sadly despite these many threats, the president has failed to take isil seriously. dismissing them as the j.v. team and describing them as contained. it took an act of congress to compel the president to submit a plan to defeat isil and violent extremists. over a month after the february deadline, his plan was pathetically released to seven pages. this is not a serious plan to protect american families eliminating terrorist safe havens. this is not a real plan because it does not directly reference radical islam or jihad once. it is not a real plan because it only outlines past

activities. it clarifies the president's legacy of failure. sadly, it is clear that this does not provide a path to defeat isil and mass murderers. while i have confidence in our service members and military leaders, they deserve a clear mission. seven pages is not sufficient as american families are at risk of attack. in conclusion, god bless our troops and may the president by his actions never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from vermont seek recognition? mr. welch: thank you. to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. welch: mr. speaker, earlier this week the justice department reached a setment with goldman sachs where they are paying $5 billion as the result of selling bad mortgages to good people. i want to ask question of vermont banker asked me. why isn't anybody going to jail? what they did is put together

mortgages that were designed to fail. and then they sold them to police officers, to teachers, to folks who have pension funds on the trust that goldman sachs was working for them. so the banker questioned from vermont, why didn't anyone go to jail? that's the question. second question, why are the taxpayers paying over half of this settlement? it's tax deductible. the $5 billion settlement, $2.4 billion civil penalty, goldman pays. the rest of it is deductible. why should the taxpayers be on the hook for the misconduct, intentional misconduct? cruel misconduct, unnecessary misconduct, taxpayers should not be paying a cent. and the people accountable should be going to jail. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the the

gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. today i rise to support great strides miami 2016 and the cystic fibrosis foundation. cystic fibrosis is a tragic genetic disease that can cause a buildup of thick mucus in the lungs and other organs leading to freak enfeckses and organ failure. this coming sunday, april 17, at 9:00 a.m., i urge my fellow south floridians to participate in the 5-k walk at historic virginia key beach located in my congressional district to raise awareness for the need for a cure to this terrible disease. little delaney jade, right here, what a beautiful child.

delaney, seen here with her loving grandmother, is one of some 30,000 americans who desperately deserve more effective treatment and a cure. please consider taking a few hours of our yuck end to walk at great strides miami and help delaney and so many others add more tomorrows to their precious young lives. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? address ous consent to the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, tomorrow is tax day, april 15. it is also the day that by law the u.s. congress is supposed to introduce a budget. mr. speaker, the sad truth is that the republican house leadership is failing to meet even this most basic

responsibility despite speaker ryan's promise months ago to return this house to regular order and restore the american people's faith that this body is working to address the needs of everyday americans. mr. cartwright: house republicans cannot even bring themselves to agree on a budget for us to vote on. hardworking american families deserve a congress that invests in the future, protects their safety, and creates a level playing field for them and their children to succeed. hardworking americans deserve a congress that will address the growing threat of the zika virus which we now know is becoming more of a threat and causes birth defects. we need to address it. and democrats will continue to press for a budget that creates jobs, raises the paychecks of the american people, and keeps them safe while reducing the budget in a balanced and responsible way. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired.

for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from north carolina seek recognition? ms. foxx: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. ast week i visited four bush elementary school. while i was there i had a chance to meet with the impressive students who are a part of the four bots, robotics team. although they have only had a robotics program for two years, its students are already wracking up awards. the team was named the grand champion of the county's first lego league robotics tournament. the team also placed first in the robot table performance and project presentation categories in a regional tournament in boone. additionally, they placed first in robot programming in the north carolina first lego league tournament and claimed a second place award in robot table performance. it's always a pleasure to visit the schools and witness the

great things happening in classrooms across the county. it's clear the teachers and administrators are providing an educational experience that equips students for success. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. higgins: mr. speaker, in 2014, 20,000 americans tied from an overdose of opioid drugs in an annual total that is quadrupled since 1999. in erie county, 11 people died per week from suspect the overdoses. yet one in nine americans with substance abuse problems are currently less -- less than one in nine are currently receiving treatment for their disorder. one cause is a cap that limits the number of patients a doctor can treat with opioid treatment medications. i have introduced legislation

to raise these caps and expand prescribing authority to physicians assistants, nurse practitioners, which is especially important in medically underserved communities. when treatment was approved for use in france without patient caps, the opioid overdose death rate declined by 85% in five years. i urge my colleagues to support the act to give professionals the tools they need to treat addiction. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, this week i spoke to a group of stiffle engineers, local water utility managers, and others involved in the water infrastructure industry at the 2016 water week conference. while roads and bridges and airports and train tracks get attention, water infrastructure is just as critical. water transportation is the safest and most fuel efficient,

and less expensive means to moving goods. the public and private sectors must work together to deliver safe and affordable water to millions of americans every dafmente mr. gibbs: in 2014 we wrote a landmark act signed into law. it reformed the way the army corps of engineers studies and completes their projects, shortened the endless study of environmental reviews, and included no earmarks. our economy cannot afford to see the locks and dams and our waterway systems fail. our agriculture and industries depend on open and secure water transportation system and we hope to accomplish that in 2016. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from hawaii seek wreck -- recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. gabbard: thank you, mr. speaker. there are more than 200,000 filipino and filipino american soldiers who responded to president roosevelt's call to

duty. they fought under our american flag during world war ii. these loyal and courageous soldiers suffered, fought, and gave up their lives alongside their american counterparts throughout the war yet decades have gone by and they are still waiting for their service to be recognized. i have introduced h.r. 2737, legislation that is strongly supported by members of both parties and in both chambers to award these deserving veterans the congressional gold medal. so that our country can show our appreciation and recognize them for their dedicated service and sacrifice in defeating the imperial japanese army. today there are just 18,000 of these filipino world war ii veterans who are still alive today. time is of the essence. we cannot afford to wait. i urge my colleagues to quickly pass this legislation so that these courageous men may be honored while they are still among us. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired.

for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize the 20th annual national cornbread festival which takes place in my hometown of south pittsburgh,town tfpblet this yearly event brings thousands of folks from around the country to experience the culture of southeast tennessee. south pittsburgh is also the home of the iconic american company, lodge manufacturing, a major sponsor of the cornbread festival. mr. desjarlais: growing up almost all of us can remember a large cass iron skilllet playing a prom net role in making feels and the family times of our loved ones are some of the most cherish. they truly embody the spirit of american manufacturing and ingenuity. while the transfer is for most companies to sell to large companies and move overseas,

lodge has continued to operate in tennessee since 1896. many of my constituents have worked at lodge manufacturing for their entire lives just like their parents and grandparents. i appreciate lodge manufacturing for working to keep those american dreams alive and thank all those who play a role in hosting the national cornbread festival. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from organizeon seek recognition? >> address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. defazio: like many americans, i spent last weekend struggling through my taxes. i would like to know like other americans that that money is going to be used in a responsible way. and we are going to move toward fiscal stability around here. i'm the lead democratic sponsor of mr. goodlatte's constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget. my opinion, the only way you're going to get congress to get serious is to have a requirement, a constitutional requirement, that the budget be

balanced and the president submit to congress a balanced budget. and you can't pretend you're going to do it just by cutting the heck out of everything. if has to include revenues. it has to close tax loopholes. overseas tax havens, and a whole bunch of other things that are leading to revenue losses. i'm introducing an improved amendment over and above that of -- from representative goodlatte, which deals with a few concerns i have about that one. this one clearly protects social security and medicare. this one clearly closes a loophole that we can't have off budget spending for military operations. we must have a declaration of war if you're going to exceed a balanced budget. it would require the budget be balanced within five fiscal years of passing. we have been kicking this can down the road. it's not a can anymore. it's a mountain of debt that we are giving to our kids. we have to get serious about solving this. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. . for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek

recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise to recognize mor tan plant hospital which celebrates its 100th anniversary. mr. morton plant was vacationing in florida when his son, henry, was injured. he realized the closest hospital was a day's drive so he offered the community a $100,000 endowment. mr. jolly: it opened with 20 beds and five bassinets and in the decade to come, morton plant would emerge at the forefront of vascular health, join coling and neonatal health. be been awarded the bay friendly hospital. it's been awarded the innovation of the year in patient care. notably it's the only hospital in the united states to be

awarded for 13 consecutive years the top 100 hospital designation by thompson reuters. the hospital continues to serve the pinellas county community. i congratulate them on 100 years service and offer the sincere great taud of our pinellas county community for mor tan plant's tireless work on behalf of patients and families. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? mr. cicilline: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized were one minute. mr. cicilline: on saturday i'm hosting a conference on students and the work we need to do in congress to address the crisis of student debt. our young people are drowning in student debt. it's projected that 65% of job openings by 2020 will require post-secondary education or training beyond high school this will become even more urgent.

the cost of education at a four-year university has increased 250% since 1979 while real wages stayed about the same. compared to 1979, students face $26,000 per more -- more per year for private university, $11,000 more per year at a public university. the average rhode island college student has over $141,000 in student loan debt, the fourth highest in the country. we need to guarantee wrung people they can graduate from college debt free, that they can refinance existing debt at lower rates and we need to expand pell grants and other investments in higher education. we need to do it now, our future depends on it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expire. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: i'm proud to serve along with my colleague from

rhode island, mr. langevin, as co-chair of the career and education caucus. in that role i'm excited to learn of students in the pennsylvania fifth congressional district who are exceling in preparation for careers in growing technical education fields. today i want to congratulate justin deeths, a student at oil city high school who studies welding at the technology center. last december, he won first place in the annual pittsburgh section of the american welding society competition. on march 29, justin was awarded $100 for this accomplishment. a new welding helmet, jacket, and gloves along with a week at the lincoln electric welding school and qualification in x-ray welding. this is quite an achievement which will undoubtedly open new doors for justin. i wish him the best of success in his future endeavors. mr. speaker, career and technical education transforms lives. america needs a robust re-authorization of the perkins act. thank you, and i yield back my

time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for ne minute. >> mr. speaker, tomorrow is april 15rk the deadline for passing a budget. mrs. maloney: it's clear the republicans are going to miss it. from the start this process has been a travesty. before president obama even released his budget, republicans announced they would refuse to hold a hearing on it. they rejected the president's budget out of hand even before it was printed. a move unprecedented in this modern era. then they passed out of committee a budget that would end the medicare guarantee, take health care coverage away from 20 million americans who received it under the affordable care act, make deep cuts that harm children, students, seniors and hardworking americans.

then the tea party wing of the g.o.p. insisted on walking away from the bipartisan budget agreement inked just last fall system of that brings us to today. my republican colleagues don't seem to have a budget or a plan to move forward. the process has collapsed. i urge my colleagues to start over, to work with democrats, to craft a budget that invests in our future and meets the challenges facing our nation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today during national volunteer week to thank all of our nation's unsung heroes, the millions of volunteers helping our communities throughout the nation. this monday we kicked off the week with our first annual heroes among us event to

recognize some incredible people in my district who go above and beyond to make a different in our community. this week and every week, it is important that we honor and thank these individuals for their selflessness and recognize the tremendous impact that collectively their actions have on others. mr. bilirakis: thank you to all those who helped nominate the well-deserved award winners of our heroes among us event and thank you to all the volunteers and unsung heroes of florida's 12th congressional district and through the throughout the nation. keep up the great work and happy volunteer week. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, dire needs across this great nation demand

congress' attention. flint,rus, the crisis in the open yoid epidemic, not to mention ongoing needs for education, infrastructure, jobs and security. yet republicans will miss tomorrow's statutory deadline to pass a budget. the majority's road to ruin budget would devastate good jobs, end the medicare guarantee, increase poverty. even this was not cruel enough for the most extreme voices in the republican conference who demand cuts that will hurt hardworking american families. the majority's internal dysfunction is preventing congress from investing in job creation, economic growth, and help for the american people. mrs. lowey: my friends, it's time to end the game, address the dire challenges we face today and invest in a brighter future for tomorrow. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. for what purpose does the

gentlewoman from california seek recognition? without objection the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. walters: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in memory of gene hamilton aldridge who passed away on march 23, 2016, at the age of 96. ms. aleddridge was married to u.c. irvin's chancellor. they witnessed irvine evolve into the hub of technology it has become today, all centered around one of the nation's top universities. their work played a tremendous role in this transformation. but mrs. aldridge's work went far beyond this. she served on boards for a home for the developmentally disabled and south course repertory, a west coast theater company in

costa mesa. she will be remembered for her infectious laughter, her ability to keep her composure, and her service to the community. she leaves behind a rich legacy. shees survived by three grandchildren, seven grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. we join them in mourning the loss of mrs. aldridge who was truly a leader in our community. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today with good news and bad news for the american people. the good news is that after months of infight, my republican colleagues in the house and senate have found something they all agree on. the bad news is what they all have agreed upon is to stop doing their jobs. mr. takano: in the senate, judge

mirt garland, widely recognized as a brilliant and fair legal mind cannot get the courtesy of a hearing or vote. in the house, the majority is not fulfilling its legal requirement to adopt a budget for the coming year. as one prominent republican once wrote in the "wall street journal," failing to pass a budget is, quote, a historic failure to fulfill one of the most basic responsibilities of governing, end quote. that was speaker ryan in 2011. thank you, and i yield back, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise to honor two heroes from the fourth congressional district of arkansas, nicholas brown of hot springs and michael that were of

hope were awarded the ambulance association star of life awards this week. they are veterans who served their nation with valor before returning home to arkansas and joining the private sector but their sense of duty brought them back to public service work both men now working as emergency medical services professionals. they are first responders, saving lives in their hometowns every day. i congratulate nicholas and michael on this award and thank them for their service. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. connolly: tomorrow is the deadline by which congress is supposed to have enacted its annual budget resolution. as a former member of the budget committee i take that responsibility seriously and i

know the chairman of the committee does as well. it saddens me that the majority is abdicating that responsibility. i come from local government where we had to work on a bipartisan basis to adopt and balance budgets every year. yet rather than work with democrats to advance a budget resolution that reflects the spending levels of the hard-fought two-year bipartisan budget agreement adopted just five months ago, house republicans have decided not to pass a resolution at all because some in their caucus want to undo that bipartisan agreement. budgets are values-based documents, but they don't have to represent just one set of values. they can be inclusive and should represent the broad diversity of the interests of the people we represent, working together -- we represent. working together we can demonstrate the power of goth to spur economic growth, provide financial security, and meet the needs of our people.

mr. speaker, one only has to look at the growing costs of the zika virus, the opioid addiction problem and the flint water crisis to realize the cost of doing nothing. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, louisiana is known as a sportsman's pair dice. we don't have snow ski, we don't have rock climbing and we don't have white water kayaking. but we have our bayous, alligators and oysters. we're the top wintering habitat for water foul and one of the top fishing destinations in the nation. for decades, joe ap loo is a has been writing and spilling the beans on our secret fishing holes and hunting hot spots. he's been translating what's known again as america's foreign

country to visitors and residents alike. he's received national awards for coverage of legendary grambling university coach eddie robinson. mr. graves: he received awards for his coverage of fishery devastation following hurricane andrew in 1992. he received lifetime achievement awards from the coastal conservation association and louisiana wildlife federation and was recently inducted into the sports hall of fame. mr. speaker, i'm not a good hunter and i'm not a good fisherman but with joe mac, he made it easy, because he was always spilling the beans, and he's going to be sorely missed. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expire. the chair lays before the house the following communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on april 14, 2016, at 9:22 a.m.

that the senate passed, without amendment, house concurrent resolution 115. that the senate passed, without amendment, house concurrent resolution 117. that the senate passed, without amendment, house concurrent resolution 120. that the senate passed, with an amendment, h.r. 1493. with best wishes, i am, signed sincerely, karen l. haas. . the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house an enrolled bill. the clerk: senate 2512, an act to expand the tropical disease product priority review voucher program to encourage treatments for zika virus. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the question of adopting amendment number one on h.r. 3791, may be subject to postponement as though under clause 8 of rule

20. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 671, i callp the bill h.r. 3791 to raise the consolidated asset threshold under the small bank holding company policy statement, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 360. h.r. 3791, a bill to raise the consolidated assets threshold under the small bank holding company policy statement, and for other purposes. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and submit remarks extraneous materials on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. pursuant to house resolution 671, the bill is considered as read. after one hour of debate on the bill, it shall be in order to consider the amendment printed n part b of house report

114-489, if offered by the member designated in the report, which shall be considered as read and shall be separately debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided an controlled by the prone and an opponent. -- by the proponent and an opponent. the gentlewoman from texas, and the gentlewoman from california, each control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. hensarling. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of h.r. 3791, which is a much needed regulatory relief bill and economic growth bill. sponsored by an outstanding, energetic, and i.n.s. partial-birth abortionational -- and inspirational gentlelady on our committee, mrs. love. we know one thing is for certain, mr. speaker, and that is that the economy is still not working for millions of

working americans. the economy is underperforming dramatically by any historic standard. given how far the economy fell from the washington induced real estate bubble burst of 2008, history shows us that we should have had faster growth than normal during a rapid rebound phase, but it didn't happen, mr. speaker. instead, there hasn't been a single year when economic growth has even reached even 3%. one published report on this failure noted, quote, there is no parallel for this since the end of world war ii, maybe not since the beginning of the republic. last quarter's g.d.p. growth of only 1% just punk twates -- punctuates the water again for working families who find themselves working harder for less. they have seen their paychecks shrink by more than $1,600. no wonder that 72% of all americans believe the country is still in a recession because they are living that reality every day. for them the recession never

ended. i don't need polls telling me such, mr. speaker. that the economy is not working for working families, because virtually every day i receive emails or letters like these. carla from miss keith texas in my district writes, quote, we are struggling to make ends meet. my husband had temporary work for three months the last two years. he's been looking for work and not finding any. michael from the town in my district in east texas said quote, i hear on the news how the economy is improving and wall street making money. average folks like me are not seeing any economic improvement. painful truth is that the washington hyper-controlled economy again is failing low and moderate income americans and they simply want a fair shot, fair shot at economic opportunity and financial security. perhaps nowhere, nowhere is the hyper regulation of washington being felt more than when it comes to the customers of main

street community banks. these banks are being buried under a avalanche of red tape which is increasing costs for those customers, restricting their choices, and harming their personal finances. let's look at a few examples, mr. speaker. credit card rates have risen drastically, making them unaffordable and unavailable for a number would-be borrowers. federal regulations now on auto loans could hit some borrowers hard with nearly $600 increase in interest payments on a $25,000 loan over a four-year period. small business lines of credit had been cut back dramatically. and incredibly, the incredible regulatory burden placed on home buyers, is now complicated the buying process and led to fewer community banks offering home mortgages. the fact is all of these higher costs are being felt at the same time that paychecks and savings are stagnant for working families, it just compounds the problem. the shear weight, volume,

complexity of all these regulations is killing prospects for new jobs, killing opportunities to spur economic growth, and it's harming working americans. it's killing their ability to achieve financial independence through their home mortgages, through their auto loans, through their credit card loans, through their small business lines of credit. it's on their behalf and behalf of the carlas and michaels of america and millions of others like them that we are here to pass a very simple but very helpful bill. it is a commonsense piece of legislation. the bill again sponsored by the gentlelady from utah will make it easier for our small hometown community banks to raise capital so that capital, this very same capital can be turned around and turned into local jobs and economic growth on main street. we know that passing this bill will immediately, immediately been the fete -- benefit more than 400 community banks across

america. not big banks, wall street banks, but community banks. those are the banks historically that focus their attention of the needs of our local families, small businesses shall and farmers. as a matter of fact, passage of this bill is a long-standing goal of the independent community bankers of the america. but at the end of the day, we shouldn't pass this bill simply because it's good for community banks. we should pass this bill because it's good for their customers. the people who benefit from the loans and service that is our community banks provide. the people who will work at the jobs, the people who will help create this stronger economic growth. wouldn't it be nice to hear for a change that community banks are once again hiring new loan officers to serve their communities as opposed to more regulatory compliance officers to serve their washington masters? that's how you help capitalize more small businesses and help families pay their bills. plan for the future, and achieve the dream of financial i.n.s. pens. i again -- independence.

i again applaud the gentlelady from utah for her leadership, for fighting tenaciously for working families in her district and across america and i urge all members to support and adopt h.r. 3791. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, ms. waters. ms. waters: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. ms. waters: thank you, mr. chairman. we are now considering a bill that not only could put our communitybacks at risk but strikes at the heart of why compromise in congress can be so challenging. h.r. 3791 is would direct the federal reserve to raise the asset threshold under the small bank holding company policy statement, allowing small banks and private equity firms to take on additional debt for mergers and acquisitions. the threshold would be increased to $5 billion in

consolidated assets from $1 billion. let me stress that this would be five times as much as the current threshold and 10 times as much as the initial level that was in place before a bipartisan compromise was enacted last congress. the small bank holding company policy statement is important because it allows small institutions like community banks and minority-owned depositories to access additional debt so they can continue serving their communities. however, it is important that this threshold is carefully calibrated so it cannot be abused by speculative investors. if the threshold is raised too high, it will have the opposite of the intended impact. it will lead to mergers and acquisitions. riskier banking activities, and a reduction in banking services

and credit availability it to rural, low-income, minority, and underserved communities. indeed, democrats and republicans on the financial services committee worked together just a little over a year ago to provide relief to almost 5,000 community banks by doubling the asset threshold under the policy statement to the current level of $1 billion from $500 million in assets. we did so after working closely with regulators and determining that $1 billion was the most appropriate threshold to both help community banks grow without making them targets for mergers and acquisitions. at $1 billion the policy statement covers 89% of banks in the country providing relief to the vast majority of community banks and minority-owned depository institutions. so i'm trying very hard to

understand why my colleagues are reneging on their compromise and undermining the careful, considerate policy that we enacted. the administration has threatened to veto this measure because of the potential danger to our smaller banks and to the communities they serve. they have called this bill an unnecessary and risky change. because we know what will happen if the federal reserve had to make this change. for one, raising the threshold would have a serious impact on consolidation of community banks. the majority purports to be concerned with consolidation in the banking industry and the disappearance of community banks. well, this bill will all but ensure that larger banks and investors come in and purchase smaller banks. and then cut branches in the communities they need -- that

need them the most. we have already seen this happen with banks across the country. both large and small who have been forced to shut down hundreds of branches because investors and shareholders demand higher and higher returns. i supported the change we made last year to $1 billion because it would help ensure that small community banks are able to continue serving their communities. that is the point. -- point of the small bank holding company policy statement. we must help our communities retain access to local banks that know the specific needs of their consumers and small businesses. but this bill would do the opposite even those that did survive wouldn't be able to provide the same personalized service because of their size. i am particularly concerned about how this would impact our underserved communities. another problem with this

legislation is that it would allow banks with as much as $5 billion in assets to operate under lower standards and less oversight by regulators. many community banks failed during the 2008 financial crisis because they became overleveraged. certainly if a bank makes bad decisions in the amount of risk they take on, then it's appropriate to let it fail, but the failure of any bank and especially a bank with up to $5 billion in assets has a tremendous impact on the community it serves and on the deposit insurance fund. at the end of the day, more bank failures will increase premiums for all the banks protected by the deposit insurance fund. we cannot allow reckless behavior that benefit investors and bank shareholders at the expense of small banks and the communities they serve. mr. chairman, h.r. 3791 is not

a small change. it is a risky move that threatens both bipartisanship and these already polarizing times, as well as the safety and soundness of our community banks and the customers they serve. so i would urge my colleagues to join me in voting no on this bill. mr. chairman and members, allow me to reiterate the point. we worked very hard reaching across the aisle, making compromise, making commitments to each other, and agreeing that we would raise the asset limits from $500 million to $1 billion. . we had that agreement. and before the ink was dry on the deal, here we have a bill that says, oh, we really didn't mean it. we want to raise it to $5 billion.

ha, ha, ha. well, people wonder why we don't compromise more, why we can't get together more, why we can't understand what's in the best interest of all of our constituents and put aside our differences and work on behalf of those people we say we care about. the other side claims they care about community banks. then why would they renege on this agreement? if they care about community banks, why would they put them in the position to be bought up by private equity firms and by special money interests who only want to find a way to make more money and more profits by closing down branches and firing people. that's what they do. when these private equity firms come in, they borrow a lot of money in order to make these kind of purchases, and guess what, they've got to take the money back. so guess who is a victim of this

kind of agreement? it is the small banks and the constituents. so while my chairman, a gentleman that i like very much and get along with very well, will open with statements that have nothing to do with this bill, and talk about the plight of those in our communities that are suffering, let me tell you why they're suffering. not only in his community but in communities across this country, because we had a subprime meltdown and a crisis that was created in 2008 by these kind of reck legislation -- of reckless public policy attempts. so we discovered that because of all the exotic products and all of the recklessness of some of the big banks and others that we put our people at risk, we put our constituents at risk, and guess what? they lost their homes. many of them are homeless on the streets now. many of them cannot afford the

rents that have risen because of the crisis that we came out of. and so, if you really want to help small banks and community banks, you really want to help your constituents, you will not be for a bill like this one. this only puts them at risk. and so i'm going to ask my colleagues to vote no on this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: i yield myself 30 seconds to say, number one, i find it incredible the ranking member would say this is going to harm community banks, and it kind of begs the question, why are they all for it? we already have their endorsement. she is concerned about big banks gobbling up small banks, maybe it's time to repeal dodd-frank since the big banks have gotten bigger and the small banks have gotten fewer and the small banks tell us it's dodd-frank killing them. this will help small banks

survive, they'll merge together rather than disappear from our rural communities. with respect to increasing risk, i urge the ranking member to read the policy statement of the fed, which says they may exclude any company regardless of asset size. i'm happy to yield her as much time as she may consume, the author of the bill, ms. love from utah. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from utah. ms. love: thank you, mr. speaker. i also want to thank chairman hensarling for his support of this bill. economic freedom and personal freedom run hand in hand. in order to enjoy our personal freedom, americans need access to credit. as individuals, on behalf of their families, and in their businessesful -- businesses. that's why i'm so happy to introduce this bill. h.r. 3791 is a very important bill to help small banks and

savings and loan companies to get access they need to make credit available to their communities. these small banking institutions are critical to the people and the communities in which they reside. they support the credit needs of families, small businesses, farmers, and entrepreneurs. community banks are often the principal lending source for many people, whether they purchasing a home, starting a new business, or purchasing a vehicle. in many counties around the nation a community bank is the only banking presence that residents have. when these community banking institutions are overwhelmed with regulations and mandates, many of which are meant for larger institutions, it is hard for -- it is hardworking families, middle income and low-income families in those communities that suffer the most. mr. speaker, it's about people. community banks give people the credit they need to pursue their dream. to start a home, to start a business.

in fact, proximity to a community bank increases the chances that new small businesses will be approved for a loan. and will have the chance to succeed. by raising the consolidated asset threshold under the federal reserve small bank holding company policy statement from $1 billion to $5 billion in assets, over 400 additional small banks and thrift holding companies will qualify for coverage under the policy statement and therefore be exempt from certain regulatory and capital guidelines. these capital standards were originally established for larger institutions and disproportionately harm small holding companies. many holding companies that are above the current threshold face challenges in regards to capital formation. just when regulators are demanding higher capital levels. these exemptions provided -- provided in the policy statement make it easier for small holding

companies to raise capital and issue debt. this bill is about making sure regulation fits the size of the institution. mr. speaker, a similar effort was passed into law during the last congress. under suspension in the house and by unanimous consent in the senate. that bill raised the threshold from $500 million, where it's been since 1996, to $1 billion. that legislation also extended the exemption to saving and loan holding companies. while we're glad that we were able to achieve that increase, which helped roughly 500 small banks and holding companies, we'd like to extend those benefits further. h.r. 3791 would bring more than 400 additional small institutions within the scope of the policy state. our success story has been told and we've already seen it from that, forus increase,

instance, 35 holding companies pulled their holdings to issue debt under the policy statement. that debt was then downstreamed to the respective bank where the capital was then used to make loans in communities they serve. illustrating the great multiplier effect that the policy statement can produce. h.r. 3791 seeks to extend that flexibility and success to a greater number of small institutions and the communities they serve. opponents of this increase have alleged that changing the regulatory thresholds would put communities and deposit insurance funds at higher risk. but the policy statement contain several safeguards designed to ensure that small bank holding companies to operate with higher levels of debt permitted by the policy statement. and they do not present an undue risk to safety and soundness of the bank. mr. speaker, to sum this up, this bill is not about

supporting banks. it's about supporting families. communities. small businesses. it's about making sure that small business owners like my constituent, jennifer jones, to have the access to the credit she needs to expand her early childhood academy, where she teaches children to read before they reach kindergarten. it's about families, sitting around the kitchen table, imagining the possibility of renovating or improving their homes. it's about their entrepreneur starting a restaurant and being her own boss. it's about the thousands of new jobs that will be created in those communities as a result. the raising of the threshold received widespread, bipartisan support in the last congress. and i hope that the people will receive equal support this time. thank you, mr. speaker.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. waters: i yield to the gentlelady from new york, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i thank very much the ranking member yielding and for her leadership on this issue. mr. speaker, i rise today in opposition to h.r. 3791. and i'd like to note the statement of administration policy on this bill which says that the bill, and i quote, amounts to an unnecessary and risky change, end quote. i am disappointed that we are even considering this bill because i thought that we had reached a thoughtful compromise a good faith compromise on this issue last year. last congress, we came together in a bipartisan way to increase

the threshold for small banks that want to make acquisitions of other banks or financial companies and that want to basede these acquisitions on -- based and dependent to some extent on debt. the fed used to prohibit banks with more than $500 million from using debt to finance these purchases, but recognizing that this threshold was out of date, we worked together to raise the threshold to $1 billion last congress. i was proud of that deal. and i thought it reflected a good faith compromise in the financial services committee. but now, less than a year later, our colleagues in the majority apparently want to change the deal. now they want to raise the threshold from $1 billion to $5

billion. a 500% increase over the deal that we just struck a year ago. a $5 billion bank is, needless to say a significantly larger than a $1 billion bank, and a $5 billion bank likely engages in a much broader range of activities than a simple $1 billion community bank. raising the threshold to this level would actually facilitate more consolidation among community banks. banks at the high end of the $5 billion level would take on more debt by smaller banks and thereby lead to a deterioration of community bank branches in the neighborhoods that we represent and also fewer jobs. as they then seek to slim down operations. the current policy statement

already covers 89% of the banks in the country. 89% of the banks are covered by the deal we struck last year. so raising this level further is not warranted. it's risky. it's unnecessary. and the statement of administration policy says that they will be recommending a veto from the president of the united states. it's unnecessary, it's unwarranted, it reverses a spirited compromise and good policy. i urge my colleagues to vote no. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentlewoman reserve the balance of her time? ms. waters: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hensarling: at this time i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from missouri, mr. luetkemeyer, chairman of the housing and insurance subcommittee of our committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. luetkemeyer: today the house will consider h.r. 3791, legislation to raise the consolidated asset threshold on the federal reserve small bank holding policy statement. the state of the regulatory nvironment presents challenges for banks is an understatement. today they require more in terms of both regulatory oversight and capital requirements. ms. love's bill seeks to alleviate some of the pressure on our banks. small banks and holding companies present a unique challenge which is particular concern at a time when regulators are demanding more capital. understanding these cham the fed has recognized that small banks have limited access to financing. the federal reserve small bank holding company policy statement gives relief from certain capital guidelines and requirements, making it easier for a community bank to raise capital and issue debt and to make acquisitions and form new

bank and thrift holding companies. our nation's smallest banks have faced a recession, consolidation, and an alarming number of bank failures. by increasing the threshold in the fed's policy statement from $1 billion to $5 billion, we have an additional to help an additional 400 banks. i know the last speaker was concerned about 89% of the banks being already under this policy but we're talking about 400 more communities we can help be able to have access to a regular stream of credit rather than have to have increased costs and also restricted services from those banks. h.r. this will go a long way to ensuring that our nation's smallest institutions will continue to grow stronger and serve our communities. i thank ms. love for her work on this issue. mr. speaker, i yield back the

balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: thank you very much, mr. chairman. may i inquire as to how much time we have left. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california has 8 minutes remaining. the gentleman from texas has 16 1/2 minutes left. ms. waters: mr. chairman and members, my friends on the opposite side of the aisle that has brought this bill to the floor claim they care about community banks even when we know this bill will just result in more consolidation among small financial institutions. just yesterday, the republicans repealed the mechanism by which we would bind down systemically important firms. this puts us back to the days of september, 2008, where our largest financial institutions could not only threaten the

entire economy but also the stability of our community banks. remember, that when wall street banks catered -- cratered our mortgage system, they devastated the entire economy in ways that damaged not just workers and borrowers but also small financial institutions. republicans likewise later today will repeal the independent funding for the financial stability oversight council. our regulator expressly charged with examining the largest, most interconnected, most complex wall street firms. again, the republicans want the biggest players to escape scrutiny, thereby threatening our smaller community institutions. republicans also have failed to put forward credible housing finance reform. recall that in 2013, the chairman brought up his path act, which would have all but excluded small banks and credit

unions from the secondary market, especially handing the keys to our mortgage markets over to the largest wall street banks. by eliminating fannie mae and freddie mac, community institutions across the country would have had mortgage lending come to a halt. and finally, remember that republicans are willing to hold our government hostage over favors that help the largest banks and only expose our community financial institutions to more risk. we need not go too far back to remember that 2014 fight over the government spending bill where republicans were willing to risk a government shutdown in order to repeal dodd-frank's swaps pushout rule which would have them swap them from the account holding depositors' money. let us be clear. my chairman has said over and over again -- and he never

fails to remind us, he hates dodd-frank. he wants to get rid of dodd-frank reforms. he said he would do anything to get rid of dodd-frank and the reforms that were put in place by the congress of the united states and signed by the president. he forgets what happened in 2008. he forgets the meltdown. he forgets the risks. he forgets about the almost depression that we found ourselves in. he does not want to strengthen the hand of regulators. he does not believe that our regulators should have on their agenda consumer protection, and that's why in all of this struggle, whether it's talking about the small banks or -- you should hear him on the consumer financial protection bureau. he hates that bureau, and he wants to dismantle that bureau because they do not want regulations really for the biggest banks in this country.

and oftentimes what they're doing is they're benefiting the big banks, but they're making it look as if they are benefiting the smaller banks. and so we have to push back very hard on these attempts. moving from $1 billion to $5 billion is an absolute unraveling of our agreement, and it's wrong to work so hard with the opposite side of the aisle and come to an agreement only to have them renege on it. but in the final analysis, it's because they would rather put their influence and time in on what amounts to helping the big banks and not the small banks and forget about what this does to our communities. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, i'm very happy now to yield three minutes to the gentleman from arizona, mr. schweikert.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona for three minutes. mr. schweikert: thank you, mr. chairman, and to my good friend, congresswoman love, thank you. you've actually become a very valuable member of the financial services committee and i appreciate this bill. we got to talk to something because there's something here that's just bordering on, you know, we're passing each other in the night here that makes absolutely no sense. ok, dodd-frank, i accept some folks bathe and love for it. but it has made the big money center banks bigger, so a bill comes along and says, hey, there's this concentration -- if you believe it's a concentration or risk because these banks are growing bigger and bigger and bigger and one of the big reasons they're growing bigger is because they the - they can applor ties regulatory risk -- amor ties the regulatory risk. they're $2 trillion

institutions. we're talking about a $5 billion stepup here. the small banks, which we're losing one a day, cannot cover these costs. their regulatory cost on a much smaller book of business is putting them out of that business. so if you want to make the big banks smaller, you can try to regulate them more but they've demonstrated that actually is their competitive edge in the world right now. what you need to do is compete them out of their hugeness, if that's a word. if you care about competition, if you want to make -- if you want to stay with your rhetorical that, hey, we need to deal with these big banks, we need to keep regulating them, create a market where other banks with start to take part of their market share. because the big banks have a different cost of money. they have this ability to take this huge regulatory environment, sometimes five

different agencies that have some level of prudential coverage and amortize it over a book. it's $2 trillion. how about giving smaller institutions take their market share? that's what ms. love's bill does. we're still talking something that's tiny in the banking world, but let these holding companies get up to $5 billion. let them actually start having a fighting chance to take some of this regulatory burden that's been shoved down their throats and start to amortize it over a little bit bigger book, because if you leave it at the smaller institutions, they cannot compete. if you want to make the big banks smaller, create an environment where they face competition. this is a classic argument around here. do you believe that you make the world safer by layer and layer and layer of regulation? well, that worked great in

2008, didn't it? we're going to file our paperwork and maybe next quarter some regulator will look at it and maybe the next six months someone will write a letter about it, or do you want an environment where there's so much competition out there there's a lot of optionality in the financial markets? and that's what we're looking for here. mr. hensarling: i yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds. mr. schweikert: it's a fairly simple argument, if you want a competitive, robust financial market in our banking world where institutions have the ability to survive because of the crushing cost that dodd-frank has created, this is a simple, simple bill that's just a chip of the iceberg that's dodd-frank. but think about it in a way. this is the first step to try to create more competition to those big banks that i hear the left rail on day after day.

this is a good piece of legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. does the gentleman reserve the balance of his time? the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, can i inquire how much time is remaining on both sides, please? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas has 13 minutes remaining. the gentlewoman from california has 13 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. hensarling: may i inquire also if the other side has any more speakers? ms. waters: we have no more speakers. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, i'm very happy now to yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. neugebauer, the chairman of the financial institutions subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas for two minutes. mr. neugebauer: well, i thank the chairman for the time and also want to commend the gentlewoman from utah, ms. love, for outstanding piece of legislation and i rise in support of 3291.

you know, i think sometimes we get up here and we talk about, you know, things in a technical way. let me just explain to you what this good piece of legislation does. unfortunately over the last few years, we've lost over 1,000 community banks in our country. in fact, we're losing them at the rate of about one a day right now, and that's important to my district because i'm from the 19th congressional district which is a relatively rural district. have a lot of small communities in -- have community banks in there. some of them have been in business 75 or 100 years, but unfortunately in the environment because of all the regulations coming out of dodd-frank, many of these financial institutions can no longer can be viable on a stand-alone basis. what is the alternative? well, the alternative for those small banks is to search for someone to purchase them so that bank can remain in that community. in texas, for example, this bill would allow 44 bank holding companies, small bank holding companies to be able to help absorb some of those smaller banks. and why is that important? because in many of those

communities, that little community bank is really one of the last corporate citizens standing there. they are the ones that sponsor the scoreboard for friday night football which is kind of big in texas. they're the ones that support the chamber of commerce, and so what the federal reserve recognized is that, you know, normally they don't allow debt to be used in this transaction for larger holding companies but they realize, you know, going out and getting capital for these small purchases is difficult. so what the federal reserve has said, you know what, we're going to allow them to use up to 75% of the purchase price can be debt. now, this does nothing about the safety and soundness. in other words, holding companies that are purchasing these, they still have to maintain the appropriate capital ratios and all of those other things. this is in no way affects the health of the banking industry but it does facilitate the ability to make sure that these small community banks are able to stay in the communities by being purchased by an entity that's a little bit larger that

they can amortize that cost. this courage my support bill and support community banks. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman from texas reserve the balance of his time? the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from arkansas, mr. hill. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from arkansas for two minutes. mr. hill: thank you very much, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. chairman. congressman -- congresswoman love stands with main street and main street-based community banks is why we're on the floor today because they're at the heart of helping our families, start new restaurants, get consumer finance, finance our farmers. i come from a very rural state, arkansas, and 70% of the agriculture production loans in this country are made by our locally owned community banks. and making it easier for them

to raise capital makes it easier for our consumers and businesses to get the credit they need. for every dollar raised in capital at our banks, $10 can be put into lending in our communities, and small bank holding companies have less access to equity financing than their larger counterparts. it's always been that way, and so this effort makes complete common sense to allow small bank and thrift holding companies to expand their capital base in a more easier and directed manner. dodd-frank made it harder to raise capital because of the changes in the law about trust preferred securities and other ways that many, many small banks raise capital. so this policy statement change that ms. love proposes is well-timed. there's bipartisan support for raising this threshold to $5 billion, notwithstanding the comments heard on -- in today's

floor conversation. senator brown, democrat in the senate, with mr. vitter in the senate last congress proposed $5 billion as the appropriate evel for this effort. additionally, mr. speaker, concerning the ranking member's comments about raising the threshold on carte blanche relief under the policy statement that might lead to unsafe conditions, that's in my view not correct, mr. speaker. there are numerous other restrictions and criteria that continue to apply, and the federal reserve retains the right to impose capital standards if it determines it necessary to protect the safety and soundness of the institution. mr. hensarling: i yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds. mr. hill: this bill is about main street and economic growth and it surprises me as just a member of congress that our president, president obama, would issue a veto message on

this bill. i applaud the efforts in this bill and i urge my colleagues to support its commonsense design and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserve his time? the gentleman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to set the record straight. i have in my hand a statement from united states senator sherrod brown, it's a statement on house bill to alter fed small bank holding policy statement. u.s. senator sherrod brown, ranking might be of the u.s. senate committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs, issued the following statement today on legislation that is this legislation, h.r. 3791, that would increase the asset threshold for the federal reserve small bank holding company policy statement and i quote, i understand that proponents of h.r. 3791 have

mentioned a similar provision that i included in a larger bill in 2013 as somehow relevant to the current debate before the house of representatives. it might be relevant, if the house was also engaged in a real effort to address too big to fail and it might be relevant if time had stood still. but since 2014, congress and regulators have provided significant regulatory relief to community banks and raised the threshold of the small bank holding company policy statement to $1 billion. raising the threshold to $1 billion was where congress, regulators, and stake holders could find broad, bipartisan consensus on this issue and i support that. i do not believe we should take further action to raise the threshold and it is wrong to suggest otherwise. ladies and gentlemen on the opposite side of the aisle, don't use sherrod brown's name one more time because this

statement puts that to rest. he is not in support of raising this threshold to $5 billion. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new hampshire, mr. guinta. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from new hampshire for two minutes. mr. guinta: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in support of the gentlelady from utah's bill that would allow more small bank holding companies to raise the necessary capital to better serve not only their customers but their communities. h.r. 3791 would raise the consolidated asset threshold from the federal reserve small banking holding policy from $1 billion to $5 billion. by simply raising this asset threshold, more institutions would be able to qualify for coverage under the policy statement and be exempt from the ongoing burdensome regulatory guidelines.

my home state of new hampshire is chock full of community banks and community-based financial institutions and having a higher threshold would help more community banks in my state and others across the country meet their higher capital equirements under basel 3. i appreciate the commonsense aprotch the gentlelady from utah is taking and i appreciate her leadership. in my state we have had a 20% reduction of community banks. that means the average individual looking for an additional loan, whether it's personal or to start a new business, they can't get access to that capital. that is hurting the very people that the other side tries to claim to support. just last week i heard about a woman who recently was divorced, had two kids as a nurse, looking for a mortgage to start her new life again. and she was denied because of these burdensome regulations. that should not be the intent in this country. we should be able to help those

individuals who are trying to succeed create a better life, give their children opportunity, and this h.r. 3791 does just that. so i urge my colleagues to vote yes on the bill. again, i thank the gentlelady from utah for her leadership and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas re serves? the gentleman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: i'm pleased to yield now two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. katko. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york for two minutes. mr. katko: while the financial crisis showed that targeted regulations were kneed to protect our financial system, it also showed the real threats to the system did not come from community banks and other small financial institutions. yet, because of high compliance

costs and the fiendish complexity of the dodd-frank laws which all too often fail to recognize the lower risk by these institutions, they've been put at a disadvantage. this is part of the effort by the house to institute target red forms and ensure we're not holding back small, stable institutions that millions of institutions and small businesses trust. h.r. 3791 is a well-targeted bill to will make it easier for small bank holding companies to provide needed regulatory relief by raising the consolidated asset threshold for smallback holding companies. in doing so, this bill will benefit local economies and improve the health of the american economy as a whole. at the same time the bill contains important safeguards to ensure that the financial system isn't put at greater risk. in short, this is exactly the kind of measured approach that congress should take to protect homeowners and investors while also ensuring that we have a vibrant, well functioning financial sector. i'd like to thank representative love for her work on this bill

and chairman hensarling for his hard work and leadership. i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserve the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: we're ready to close on our side. i believe we have the right to close. we reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. ms. waters: thank you very much, mr. chairman. on tuesday, in the rules committee, i reminded members that i came to the financial services committee, known as the banking committee back then, in the wake of the savings and loan crisis. one of the biggest lessons i took away from that time was that we must be precise when we mandate changes to bank safety and soundness rules. even when our intent is to help community financial institutions. congress' intent may have been

to help savings and loans serve their communities, but by not being measured and considered in its actions, congress transformed the savings and loans industry into one that serves speculative investment and irresponsible c.e.o.'s that recklessness led to a banking crisis that brought down more than 1,000 institutions, cost taxpayers more than $120 billion, and robbed many communities of access to affordable banking products. as i said, it is important that the small bank holding company policy statement threshold is carefully calibrated, so it cannot be abused by speculative investors. if the threshold is raised too high, it will have the opposite of the intended impact. it will lead to mergers and acquisitions, riskier banking activities and a reduction in banking services and credit availability to rural,

low-income minority and underserved communities. that is why two years ago i worked -- worked diligently with my republican counterparts to pass a bill that raised the threshold to $1 billion in assets providing additional funding resources to 89% of the banks in the united states. that was smart, bipartisan legislating, a decision that we came to after consulting the regulators, researching the industry, and carefully considering the ramifications of the proposal. in addition to that bill, on the small bank holding company policy statement, i and my fellow democrats in both the house and senate also introduced comprehensive legislation that would reduce compliance costs at community banks. we introduced this legislation which included carefully targeted reforms that would allow small banks to thrive. rather than encouraging consolidation as this bill would do.

our support put small institutions -- for small institutions is also why my fellow democrats and i have been supportive of the consumer financial protection bureau, which has used smart data analysis to thoughtfully call grate their rules for the needs of small banks. we often forget that in the run up to the crisis, many small banks were pushed out of the lending business by unregulated, nonbank lenders. the cfpb has now created an even playing field and small banks and credit unions are a bigger share of the mortgage market now than they have been in years. carefully considered reform provides relief to community banks without creating unintended cons againsts in a complex financial system with many players. unfortunately, the legislation before us today would, as my friends across the aisle say, over and over again, hurt the people it's trying to help. after we worked in good faith

with republicans to come up with a smart, targeted reform, we are now attempting to use this issue as a political wedge. it is exactly that kind of thinking that sets the groundwork for the savings and loan crisis and that thousands of communities without access -- left thousands of communities without access to banking services. i urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, and mr. chairman and members, with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: mr. speakering how much time do i have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: five minutes. mr. hensarling: i yield myself the balance of the time. mr. speaker, ever since the dodd-frank law was passed, none of the promises that were made have been kept. it isn't too big to -- didn't end too big to fail. big banks have gotten bigger, small banks have gotten fewer, working americans continue to

fall behind. they've seen their paychecks either remain stagnant or shrink. they've certainly seen their bank accounts shrink. when dodd-frank -- after dodd-frank we've seen free checking at banks cut in half. since other financial laws of the obama administration have been passed, we've seen 15% fewer credit card offerings. and on average many of them have increased by 2 per -- by two percentage points in cost, hurting working americans who need access to credit. for purposes of the debate today, mr. speaker, what is undeniable is that we are losing a community financial institution a day in america. as we lose those financial institutions, we are also losing the hopes and dreams and financial security of millions

of our fellow countrymen. particularly those who live in rural areas. like huge portions of the fifth district of texas that i have the honor of representing in congress. i keep on hearing the ranking member talk about a quote-unquote deal, something from the last congress. last time i read my constitution, there's nothing to say that because one congress acted on a matter, another congress can't act on a matter. and indeed, i'm not sure we had any more urgent -- i'm not sure we have any more urgent matter in the house financial services committee than to save community banking. it is urgent. almost bordering on a crisis, mr. speaker. the loss of these banks, small business lines of credit have been hampered, small business, the job engine of america, fueling our entrepreneurs,

fueling new businesses. fueling the american dream. so i was happy that we passed a number of bipartisan regulatory relief provisions in this congress. now, regrettably, many of them were opposed by the ranking member. so i hear the rhetoric in helping community banks, and yet she opposed h.r. 766, financial institution customer protection act supported by community banks. h.r. 1210, portfolio lending and access act, supported by community banks. h.r. 1266, financial product safety commission act of 2016, support bid commun banks. h.r. 200 , the mortgage capital requirements act supported by community banks. and the list goes on and on. i think the proof is in the voting card, mr. speaker. as members of this side of the aisle, especially, that are consistent in trying to help our community banks, our rural

communities. so right now, they are all again, mr. speaker, suffering from the sheer weight, volume, load, complexity, cost of this massive washington takeover of our banking system, the micromanagement, the control from washington, again, that's the primary reason we're losing a community financial institution a day. and let me tell you, they're not going to get bought up by j.p. morgan. j.p. morgan is not coming to jacksonville, texas. goldman section isn't coming to forney -- goldman sachs isn't coming to forney, texas. if we don't support these community banks, we're going to lose them. that's the choice, mr. speaker, are we going to lose our community banks in rural america and again if the other side of the aisle would want to repeal their number one threat, dodd-frank, maybe this bill wouldn't be necessary from the gentlelady of utah. but it is necessary.

it is an urgent situation that we deal with today. . so i want to urge, all of my colleagues to support h.r. 3491. it is modest. it will help at least 400 community banks. 400 community banks will be helped. it will help them not only survive but to thrive so that hey can fuel and finance the american dream, through better mortgage loans, through better auto loans, through small business lines of credit. i want to thank the gentlelady from utah for her hard work, for her leadership and, again, i urge all my colleagues to vote for h.r. 3791. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. all time for debate on the bill has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois seek recognition? ms. kelly: mr. speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the

clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number one printed in part b of house report 114-489 offered by ms. kelly of illinois. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 671, the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. kelly, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from illinois. ms. kelly: thank you, mr. speaker. my republican colleagues have put this bill forward under simple proposition, small and mid-sized banks need more lending opportunities to best serve their depositors and their communities. i agree with that premise. access to credit is crucial to economic development, rebuilding our economy and creating jobs. banks and deposit institutions are vital to creating economic opportunity from small business loans, farm loans and mortgage loans to a simple checking account, access to banking services is essential for all americans. i firmly believe that allowing

banks to access additional capital is a good idea and good policy. so long as those banks are using those funds to lend in a fair and responsible manner to those people and entities that need it most. my amendment is simple. it merely adds a clause at the end of the bill stating an increase to the level of $5 billion in assets will only apply to lenders that serve rural, minority, low income and otherwise underserved communities. these leppeders will be required to have a clear and credible plan to expand access -- these lenders will be required to have a clear and credible plan to expand access to congress. let me put it this way, mr. speaker. suppose -- and suppose a very commonsense scenario. a high school student has a part-time job after school and receives a little -- little money each week from her parents. suppose that student be asks er parents to increase her

money by 500%. she says it's because of school obligations and won't have money to fill her car with gas, to the movies or out to dinner with her friends. will parents hand over five times as much money as they're used to or will they ask her simple questions, making sure it is spending money on a productive thing? the student may be completely right. a 500 increase may be justified but what is the harm in asking? what is the harm in making sure ? it's what a responsible authority would do. my republican colleagues say this will allow banks to lend, to spur economic growth and ensure banks are able to serve their customers. what is the harm in making sure that lending goes to those credit worthy businesses and individuals who need it most? if we want to encourage expansion of credit, let's make

sure it goes to where it will do most good. a mortgage loan for a single mom trying to achieve her vision of the american dream. a business loan for a small manufacturing company looking to open a new facility in an urban community that hasn't seen new jobs in years or decades. a farm loan for a small family farm so they can continue operations and raise the grain and produce what will feed the world. suburban. is urban, i see the need in all those communities. my amendment simply states the threshold increase will allow to you if you promise to responsibly lend to those who qualify and need it most and where it will do the most good and to report to the fed and congress about how you plan on going about it. no regulations, just a simple justification. mr. speaker, all credit worthy borrowers deserve fair access to the funds our banks have available to lend. expanding lending opportunities

and ensuring lenders can access capital to create more jobs and economic growth is something we all should be able to support. i simply want to ensure we're doing so -- when doing so, banks are responsible and provide credit broadly and fairly, including to the commounts will it will do -- communities where it will do the most good. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, i rise to claim time in opposition. the speaker pro tempore: you are recognized. mr. hensarling: i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, at best, at best this amendment is duplicative. under section 3 of the bank holding company act, the federal reserve already requires all companies seeking to acquire a bank, it will meet the convenience and needs of the target bank's community. listing, any significant

changes in products and discussing, quote, the programs, products and activities that would meet the existing or anticipated needs of its community under the applicable criteria of the community reinvestment act, including the needs of low and moderate income geographies or individuals. but i can tell you, mr. speaker, our community banks continue to close, as they continue to suffer under the weight of the load, they don't need duplicative law and my fear is it is not actually duplicative. this is one more report, one more additional report they're going to have to file in addition to the hundreds of other reports and paperwork that they have to fill out, one more cost that at best is duplicative. but the amendment is vague. what does it mean to have a plan deemed credible? what's credible? so here we are as a united states congress under the gentlelady's amendment yielding more of our article 1 authority

to the federal reserve. the amendment lackno procedural safeguards. it doesn't provide for a public comment on the submitted plan, doesn't allow a company to write to appeal an arbitrary determination, did not promote a company to post on its website to redact trade secrets or personally identifiable information. i -- mr. speaker, we just need to reject this amendment. it absolutely undercuts what the gentlelady from utah is doing, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from illinois. ms. kelly: well, i'm just wondering if this is duplicative, why are banks closing in these communities? and why not work with me if there are some concerns, work with me instead of rejecting this amendment? if it's duplicative, then why can't we add it and see how we can make things better? because i still get a lot of

concerns that people that need loans in various communities that i serve still don't get them. ms. waters: will the gentlelady yield? ms. kelly: i yield. ms. waters: thank you very much. i would just like to point out that here is a democrat on this side of the aisle who's offering to the republican side to support the idea that you would raise the asset level for these small banks if only you would support minority banks, if only you would have a plan for c.r.a., if only you would do the right thing if you care about the constituents and they're rejecting it. i yield back the balance to the lady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: i'm sorry, mr. speaker. how much time is remaining on each side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas has three minutes remaining.

mr. hensarling: and the other side's time has expired? the speaker pro tempore: expired. mr. hensarling:ality this time i'm happy to yield two -- at this time i'm happy to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from utah, the author of 3791. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from utah two minutes. ms. love: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd just like to say, while i have much respect for my colleague on the other side of the aisle, i am opposed to the amendment. let me reiterate again what this does. i understand that the other side of the aisle believes that we have already helped our community banks by raising the threshold from $500 million to $1 billion. however, we don't want to help our communities any longer or anymore? this, again, would give access and the ability for 400 small banks to help their communities. and i don't want you to think about this as 400 small banks. please think of this as how many thousands of people these small banks are going to be able to help. people that are going to

receive access to credit that they need in order to achieve their dreams. it is time for us in washington to stop giving people exactly what they need to stay exactly where they are and start giving them the opportunity to go beyond, to go to the middle class and beyond if they choose, to have the opportunities to be as ordinary or extraordinary as they choose to be. this will help many people from all walks of life in all sorts of communities, and that is why i believe that we in congress should do our job and give as many people access to this credit so they can help their families. thank you. i yield back the rest of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, how much time is remaining? the speaker pro tempore: 1 1/2 minutes is remaining. mr. hensarling: i yield myself the remainder of the time. again, i just want to thank the gentlelady from utah for her leadership. she's made such a great impact

on our financial services committee. again, i'm not sure we have a more urgent matter on our committee. we have many important matters, but when you're losing a community financial institution a day in america and thus losing the hopes and dreams of millions who count on those community financial institutions to help buy their homes, fund their cars, capitalize their small businesses, it is an urgent matter. this is an important underlying bill that will grant relief to an additional 400 community banks to survive and hopefully go beyond surviving to actually thriving. as ever well-intended as the amendment is from the gentlelady on the other side of the aisle, it puts one more stumbling block, one more stumbling block in front of these community banks who are just withering on the vine, who

are struggling. and, again, it is at best, at best duplicative. everything the ranking member brought up theoretically is already addressed in section 3 of the bank holding company act. why would you have to turn in essentially two different versions of a similar report? more paperwork burden. at some point it's the straw that breaks the camel's back which absolutely breaks the back of community banking. so it is time to reject the amendment. it is time for all members to support h.r. 3791. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. pursuant to the rule, the previous question is ordered on the bill and on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. kelly. the question is on the amendment by the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. kelly. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. ms. kelly: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentlewoman ask for the yeas and nays? the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 , and the order of the house of today, further proceedings on this question will be ostponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. hensarling: pursuant to house resolution 671, i call up the bill h.r. 3340, to place the financial stability oversight council in the office of financial re-- and the office of

financial research under the regular appropriations process, provoid for certain notice requirements and for other purposes and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 359, h.r. 3340, a bill to place the financial stability oversight council and the office of financial research under the regular appropriations process, to provide for certain quarterly reporting and public notice and comment requirements for the office of financial research, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 671, the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on financial services printed in the bill is adopted and the bill as amended is considered read. after one hour of debate, it shall be in order to consider the further amendment printed in part o of house re-- part a of

house report 114-489, if offered by the member designated in the report which shall be considered read and shall be separately debatable for the time specified in the report, equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. the gentleman from texas and the gentlewoman from california each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous materials on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hensarling: i yield myself as much time as i may consume. thspeaker pro tempore: the gentleman recognized. mr. hensarling: i rise in strong support of h.r. 3340, the financial oversight council reform act. i'd like to thank our colleague who authored this legislation, the gentleman from minnesota, mr. emmer, certainly one of the hardest working and most thoughtful we have on the financial services committee.

as the american people know all too well, other year, not year, but decades, in fact, congress has ceded far too much power to unaccounted bureaucrats, article 1 kaeding power to article 2. at the same time it's provide maryland unelected, unaccountable burecrats with access to money with no accountability on how that money is spent. the financial stability oversight council or fsoc as it is known typify this is misguided yielding of power to the unaccountability and unelected. last month, there was, however, a small victory for those who are alarmed by this ever encreaturing federal government and the shadow financial regulatory system that fsoc is part of and that operates with little transparency or accountability to the american people. i speak of the recent judicial ruling that struck down fsoc's designation of metlife as a too big to fail financial institution. fsoc's decision was found to be,

quote, unreasonable and the result of a, quote, fatally flawed process. well, mr. speaker, the american people can achieve yet another victory today, another step in restoring the rule of law in hecks and balances, and by reigning in -- reining in what's run amok by passing the bill before us now. fsoc is one of the most powerful entities to ever exist and unfortunately also one of the least transparent. their power is concentrated in the hands of one political party, one that controls the white house. all but one of fsoc's members is the appointed head of a federal agency. interestingly enough, the agencies themselves are not members. thus denying bipartisan representation. the structure clearly injects partisan politic into the regulatory process, it erodes agency independence and undermines accountability.

furthermore, fsoc's budget is not subject to congressional approval, removing yet another vital check and balance to its immense power of our economy and over our people. fsoc has earned bipartisan condemnation for its lack of transparency. 2/3 of its proceedings are conducted in private. minutes of those meetings are devoid of any useful, substantive information on what was discussed. even dennis tell her, the c.e.o. of the left-leaning better markets, has said, quote, fsoc's proceedings make the politburo look open. they few open meetings have, they snap their fingers and it's over. and it's all scripted. they treat their information like state secrets. fsoc not only typifies the shadowing orny but the government system americans have come to fear and loath. arbitrary rules and unchecked power to punish and reward, thus

oversight and reform are pair mount. that's why the gentleman from minnesota drafted h.r. 3340, the legislative -- the legislation before us would bring much needed accountability and transparency to do very powerful gencies by the dodd-frank act. currently these two agencies are funded by assessments on financial institutions, money that ultimately comes out of the pockets of their customers. these funds flow directly from financial institutions into the office of financial research coffers and are available immediately to be spent by both the office of financial research and the financial stability oversight council. h.r. 3340 is a very simple, commonsense bill. instead of allowing unaccountable bureaucrats to set their own budget the bill places these two agencies on the budget review by the united states congress.

the elected representatives of we the people. it says the council and the office should be funded through the normal, transparent congressional appropriations process to ensure accountability and transparency. is it too much to ask that these two powerful government agencies actually be subject to congressional oversight and budget approval? this should be the rule for a growing number of federal bureaucracies tossed into the alphabet soup of washington regulators who have more power than ever over the financial decisions and the american dream of our hardworking fellow citizens. unfortunately, i have to pose this question often to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. how much more congressional authority do we wish to outsource to regulatory agencies? why did people run for congress if they didn't want to legislate? why did they run for congress if they didn't want to engage in

oversight? oversight is a fundamental congressional responsibility and that includes budget oversight. most importantly it includes budget oversight. mr. speaker, sooner or later the shoe is going to be on the other side of the foot. sooner or later the white house will be in different hands. sooner or later, congress will be in different hands. so this should not be a partisan issue, this is about article 1 of the constitution. all members, on both sides of the aisle, should care passionately about this issue to hold agencies accountable for their spending, because we're not just writing legislation for one congress or one administration. the bare minimum level of accountability to the elected representatives of we the people is to have congress control the power of the purse. it is part of our quintessential and essential oversight responsibles, regardless of who sits in the oval office or who resides in the speaker's chair. we're going to do our job, that means congress must exercise its article 1 responsibilities and

h.r. 3340 will help us do just that. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. waters: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in opposition to h.r. 3340 which would impede the important work of the financial stability oversight council, commonly referred to as fsoc, and the office of financial research, referred to as o.f.r., by subjecting their funding to the congressional appropriations process this bill would also hamstring the o.f.r.'s ability to conduct impartial research by requiring the office to solicit public comment before issuing any report, rule, or regulation. just in case people don't understand who fsoc is, it includes the federal reserve, the federal deposit insurance corporation, the office of the

comptroller of the currency, the national credit union association, the securities and exchange commission, the commodity futures trading commission, the consumer financial protection bureau, the federal housing finance agency, independent members with insurance expertise, chaired by the treasury secretary. what you have is every representation from all of these oversight and regulatory agencies coming together, working together in the best interests of this country. i identifying risks and where that risk is and what to do about it. but the changes that are now being suggested or being made in this bill will have serious adverse effects on financial stability in the united states. dodd-frank wall street reform act created fsoc to oversee and prevent threats to our financial market. and the o.f.r. was established to support fsoc's critical work

with analytical research. dodd-frank specifically empowered both agencies with independent budgets the same way our other banking regulators, like the federal reserve, the office of the comptroller of the currency, and the federal deposit insurance operation operate. they are funded outside of appropriations through fees on large financial institutions. they were meant to be funded by the institutions they oversee and be shielded from congressional politics. republicans say they want accountability by overseeing regulators' budgets but what they really want is control so they can eliminate funding for these agencies altogether this bill would prevent efforts to properly mitigate systemic risk to the detriment of the entire economy and in this congress, it would subject the agencies to the uncertainty caused by the dysfunctional, failed republican budget process.

all we have to do is look at the struggles facing the securities and exchange commission and the commodity futures trading commission. they continue to be underfunded, despite dra mat exchanges in the market. it is a struggle every year to secure adequate resources to supervise complex institutions to the benefit of industry, but at dramatic cost to our economy. understandably, the administration opposes this bill and the president's senior advisors would recommend a veto. the administration's -- the administration specifically says that subjecting these bodies to congressional appropriations would hinder their independence and would limit their ability to monitor and address threats to financial stability. in addition, this bill would interfere with o.f.r.'s work. republicans also say they want transparency and cost benefit analysis with regard to o.f.r.'s

activity but what they really want is to give industry a leg up on our regulators. in addition, by requiring the o.f.r. to tell the industry what it is studying, the bill would corrupt o.f.r.'s findings and could have a chilling effect on its important work. for similar reason, i also will be urging my colleagues to oppose an amendment we will consider laider on today by mr. royce that requires detailed disclosure of the o.f.r.'s research agenda and practices. this is not the norm of any research organization and would severely limit o.f.r.'s ability to conduct rigorous, impartial analysis. our regulators need to act with certainty. impartiality. and sufficient researches to conduct robust oversight of our financial markets so that we can properly detect and deter systemic risk. unfortunately, this bill would be a step back in that effort,

not forward, and it is further evidence that republicans seek to dismantle dodd-frank. and the improvements we have made in our financial marks one bill at a time. so i'm going to urge my colleagues to oppose this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hensarling: i'm very, very pleased to yield five minutes to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. emmer who sponsored h.r. 3340. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. emmer: thank you to my colleague from texas, chair hensarling, and mr. speaker. i'm a firm believe for the a transparent and accountable government and if a federal institution is failing to meet these fundamental criteria, congress these to act. unfortunately, the financial stability oversight council, more commonly known in washington speak as the fsoc and the office of financial research, more commonly called the o.f.r., currently operate in the shadows. outside of congressional

oversight and the democratic process. this is -- this has led to nonsensical and heavy handed abuse by the government of numerous financial companies that had absolutely nothing to do with causing the 2008 financial crisis. while i strongly believe that those who created the crisis must be punished, i can't stand by while business that had nothing to do with the crisis are being unjustly burdened with new regulations that force american consumers to pay higher prices for essential financial products like home mortgages and student, auto, and business loans. that's why i introduced the financial stability oversight council reform act. not only will it reduce mandatory spend big $1.3 billion over the next 10 years, it will make the fsoc and o.f.r. accountable to the american people through their elected representatives. over the years, congress has given much of its power to unelected bureaucrats.

this legislation returns the constitutional power of the purse back to congress by subjecting fsoc and the o.f.r. to the appropriations process. as you know, fsoc is authorized to identify risks to the financial stability of the united states. this authority allows the fsoc to designate nonbank stitutions as systematically important, systemically institutionsancial or sfi's. it was created to provide the research and analysis for them to carry out the statutory mandate. in a classic washington fox guarding the hen house scenario, the fsoc and o.f.r. are currently funded through taxes, or assessments we prefer to call them, that they collect from the very s.f.i.'s they designate. they then set their own budgets without any oversight or