Fifth Anniversary of Dodd-Frank Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for your leadership.

Before I begin, I would just like to say, I am a small-business owner. I have owned my own business for 44 years. I have been through a lot. I have been through dollar gasoline; I have been through 20 percent interest, where I borrowed money; I have been through the slowdown in 1988; I have been through 9/11; and I must

tell you, the economy that we are in now, Main Street America is hurting like I have never seen it hurt before. That is why I am up here to talk about this situation that we seem to honor tonight, Dodd-Frank.

I join the chairman and my other colleagues here tonight to speak on what I believe is one of the most impulsive, deceiving, and un-American pieces of legislation that has ever been passed through this body. What I am talking about is a 2,300-page law that has unfairly blanketed our entire financial system with more than 400 costly rules and regulations. Just as we have found out that the Affordable Care Act is not affordable, we are learning that Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act doesn't do what its name suggests. I believe we probably need a government protection act.

Now, Dodd-Frank is hammering small town America as we have talked about, and I mean like I have never seen before in 44 years. Small town America, Main Street America is hurting. They are hurting with unnecessary but very expensive compliance measures that are hard to meet.

As a small-business owner, as I have said, of over 40 years, I can say firsthand that Dodd-Frank is driving Main Street job creators and community banks and credit unions out of business. Yesterday in our op-ed, Congressman Randy Neugebauer and I wrote that the American people were fooled into believing Dodd-Frank was necessary to ensure financial stability and prevent future market meltdowns. But instead of responsibly studying the root causes of the financial crisis, Democrats in Washington rushed to regulate.

In my home State of Texas, one of the healthiest economies in the Nation, 115 banks have closed their doors. These banks are far from the major financial institutions in New York. They are small town community lenders that cannot pull together resources to comply with Dodd-Frank. They are community banks and credit unions that issue 51 percent of all business loans under $1 million.

The crippling effects of Dodd-Frank have trickled down from the President's pen to local job creators who had nothing to do with the financial crisis. The costs have been passed along to them. It isn't right, and it is not fair. Dodd-Frank is another example of how this administration discourages growth. Under President Obama and his administration, the risk of running a business is no longer worth the possible reward, and that is a big problem.

This is America. Bad policies like Dodd-Frank are the product of lawmakers who have little to no business experience. They haven't worked on payrolls; they haven't met a payroll; they haven't counted inventory; they haven't met with employees that need personal help; they haven't put people to work; but they have done something: issue 153 new regulations, 87 compliance changes, and 59 annual adjustments to thresholds.

At what price, we ask. The Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office have both estimated that Dodd-Frank costs $3 billion to implement and will result in nearly $27 billion in private sector fees, assessments, and premiums. We simply can't afford this.

For this reason, I have introduced legislation that will loosen Dodd-Frank's choke hold on small businesses and Main Street America. The Community Financial Institution Exemption Act will require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to explain to Main Street lenders why they are not exempted from certain CFPB rules and regulations, as permitted.

My bill has the support of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas, the Texas Credit Union Association, the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, and the Credit Union National Association.

I ask all my colleagues to support my efforts. It is time we stopped punishing those who put their livelihoods on the line to realize the American Dream and not the American scheme.

In God we trust.

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