[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 23, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S2844]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           REGULATORY REFORM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, finally, speaking of community banks, 
yesterday marked a big step forward for local lenders across the Nation 
that have been crushed by the regulatory burden of Dodd-Frank. 
Yesterday afternoon, our colleagues in the House passed the Economic 
Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which the 
Senate had passed earlier this year. Now it will head to President 
Trump's desk for his signature.
  This is the culmination of extensive bipartisan work, led by Senator 
Crapo and his colleagues on the Banking Committee, to give smaller 
community lenders relief from Obama-era overregulation.
  I frequently discuss how our Democratic colleagues' top-down policy 
agenda worked well for a select few but left much of the rest of the 
Nation behind. This issue is a perfect illustration of that. Our 
Democratic colleagues produced a hastily written rule book for Wall 
Street and then forced it on the rest of America, including community 
banks and credit unions in my State of Kentucky and across the Nation.
  These local institutions are vital economic contributors. Their 
unique ability to build relationships and local connections are why 
community banks handle a majority of all U.S. small business loans and 
almost 80 percent of agricultural loans. That is why research suggests 
that closure of a single physical bank in a low-income neighborhood can 
reduce lending to nearby businesses by almost 40 percent.
  Community banks and communities that depend on them needed relief 
from Dodd-Frank. They needed sensible reform that streamlined that 
inefficient, imprecise, one-size-fits-all regulatory approach. Thanks 
to Chairman Crapo, our Banking Committee colleagues, Chairman 
Hensarling, and our colleagues in the House, that is exactly what this 
Congress and this President are poised to deliver.
  This legislation is a major bipartisan achievement. I am pleased that 
we are adding it to last year's historic tax reform, our record use of 
the Congressional Review Act to roll back overregulation, and all the 
other policy accomplishments that are helping to reignite American 
prosperity.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sullivan). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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