The News
House Republicans are pushing ahead this week with proposals to remove restrictions on bank mergers.
GOP lawmakers sent the first — a Senate-passed resolution rolling back a related Biden-era rule — to Trump’s desk with the help of Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency already reversed the guidance, but the legislation’s enactment will block future agencies from issuing similar rules.
“They can never screw with that again,” Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., told Semafor.
The House Financial Services Committee will also vote on advancing a pair of related bills from Barr later Wednesday, one of which would require regulators to approve or deny mergers within 90 days of receiving an application.
Expect Democrats to push back hard: A memo circulated privately and shared with Semafor argues that the current merger process is already “too lax.”