[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 7 (Thursday, January 11, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S145-S146]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



    Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, on Tuesday of this week, I regained my 
previous held seat on the Senate Banking

[[Page S146]]

Committee, a committee I served on from 2011 until the beginning of 
this Congress. While this committee sometimes flies under the radar for 
many Americans, the oversight it conducts and the issues it considers 
under its substantial jurisdiction are of great consequence to America 
and to the American people.
  The owners and employees of banking institutions have experienced 
success when their communities experience success. What I am saying is, 
how we lend money matters to every kind of person every day. So what we 
have experienced across Kansas, in many instances, is difficulty and 
really hard times.
  I want to talk about community. Community financial institutions are 
of great importance to the folks I represent in Kansas. What I want to 
do, in part, with my opportunity to serve on the Banking Committee is 
to make sure those financial institutions have a regulatory environment 
in which they can benefit their communities and benefit the citizens 
who live there.
  Communities in Kansas are losing their hometown banks to 
consolidation and sales, and some of these banks that are moving in 
that direction have been family owned for generations. In order to 
better understand why these lenders are consolidating or selling, I 
have sought out the nature of this decline by speaking with financial 
leaders from across the country. The overwhelming response I received 
is that the costs associated with complying with new Federal 
regulations are simply too much to absorb in their business model.
  In the aftermath of our country's significant financial downturn, a 
new regulatory framework was put in place to rein in those bad actors 
and punish bad behavior that led us down that path in 2007 and 2008. We 
have had more than 7 years to determine what the effects are of this 
new regulatory environment--Dodd-Frank--and what it has meant to our 
community banks and our community financial institutions. The most 
glaring aspect of these new regulations is the disproportionate burden 
placed upon those smaller institutions seeking to comply with their new 
responsibilities.
  Rather than extending credit to best fit the needs of their 
customers, banks are exiting entire lines of business because the 
penalties for making a mistake far outweigh the economic benefits 
derived from extending a loan. I experienced this damaging news and 
reality during the Senate Banking Committee's consideration of 
legislation to reform the secondary mortgage markets in 2014. I was 
attempting to solicit feedback from Kansas lenders of the financial 
impact some of these proposed changes would have on their communities, 
and what I learned, unfortunately, was this: ``Jerry, we don't make 
home loans anymore.'' When pressed for a reason, they responded it just 
didn't make business sense for them to do that any longer due to the 
increased Federal regulators' crackdown on mortgage lending.
  As a member of the Senate who cares deeply about rural America and 
the special way of life we enjoy in Kansas, this is a very damaging 
occurrence. If a community banker determines they can no longer extend 
credit to what would have otherwise been a creditworthy borrower 
because of the fear of making a mistake and the repercussions that 
follow, then they decide not to make the loan at all and not even to be 
in the business. What community would expect their financial 
institutions in their community to refuse to make a home loan? It is 
the American dream.
  While community banks had been consolidating for a number of years 
due to shifting demographics and market conditions, we cannot nor 
should we attempt to discount the role the post-Dodd-Frank regulatory 
environment has played in the acceleration of the harming of our 
community banking structure.
  I am not opposed to regulations, and neither are the community 
bankers working to serve their communities, but there has to be 
prioritization on the part of Congress to create an environment where 
local lenders can succeed because the success of these institutions 
means the success of their communities and the people who live there.
  During the fall of 2015, I worked alongside a number of committee 
colleagues--both Republicans and Democrats--to see if we could bridge 
the divide and bring relief to our community lenders across the 
country. While these efforts did not then produce a result, these 
discussions demonstrated that the issues facing the financial service 
world need not be partisan, and they sowed the seeds for what has now 
resulted in legislation moving its way through the legislative process 
today.
  I am happy to support S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory 
Relief, and Consumer Protection Act recently reported out of the 
Banking Committee on a bipartisan vote. Many of the provisions in this 
bill originated in legislation I have promoted since I came to the 
Senate, first as the Communities First Act, and most recently as the 
CLEAR Relief Act. While this legislation will not solve every issue 
that needs to be solved, it is meaningful progress that will make a 
difference.
  It is Congress's responsibility to ensure that economic growth is not 
needlessly impeded, and it is our duty to ensure that economic 
opportunities flourish and that Americans have access to the tools 
necessary to pursue the American dream.
  The Banking Committee can and will play an important role in 
providing these tools, and I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to 
lend the voice of Kansans to that effort. I look forward to working 
with the chairman, Mike Crapo, the Senator from Idaho, and the ranking 
member, Sherrod Brown from Ohio, as we work together to make sure good 
things happen in Kansas and across the country.
  Again, I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Banking 
Committee and on the Senate floor to see that all Americans have the 
opportunity to have access to credit so we can continue to pursue 
growing economic opportunities for all Americans to keep the American 
dream alive and well.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.