Congressional Outlook
May 14, 2024
With the election seasons heating up and must-pass items dwindling, Congress will focus on hearings, messaging bills, and legislation to set up for the post-election lame duck session and 2025. Here’s what’s on tap for this week related to financial services.
Oversight of Regulators. The House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees will convene hearings this week focused on the oversight of financial regulators.
- Witnesses will include Fed Vice Chair Michael Barr, FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg, and OCC Comptroller Michael Hsu. Gruenberg has reportedly been setting up one-on-one meetings with HFSC and SBC Members as he prepares to testify in the wake of a third-party report on misconduct at his agency.
SEC Legislation. The House Financial Services Committee is expected to vote soon on Republican legislation that would fence in SEC regulations.
- One of the bills, introduced by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) would overrule an SEC requirement that securities exchanges provide investors’ personal data as part of CAT reporting except when it’s related to an investigation.
- Another bill that is not yet finalized, led by Reps. Young Kim (R-CA) and Ann Wagner (R-MO), would direct the agency to perform cost-benefit analyses of its rules and review them every five years.
Banking Legislation. The HFSC also plans to vote next week on GOP legislation that would ease regulations on banks.
CFTC’s Johnson to Treasury Role. The White House is poised to nominate Kristin Johnson, a Democratic commissioner at the CFTC, to fill a top role at the U.S. Treasury Department overseeing banks. If confirmed, the role as assistant secretary for financial institutions would put Johnson in a senior policy position at Treasury.
Contact David McCarthy (dmccarthy@crefc.org) with questions.