Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Bill

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on another matter, later this afternoon the Senate will vote to advance the financial reform bill that is before us.

Senator Crapo's legislation starts from a simple premise: Small community lenders on Main Street are not the same as the multi- trillion-dollar banks on Wall Street. But since the Dodd-Frank Act passed in 2010, too many regulations have treated all of them the same and imposed a crushing burden on community banks that are not able to bear it.

A small number of our colleagues in the Senate seem dead set against any commonsense reforms to help these smaller institutions. They are dusting off old arguments and predicting apocalyptic consequences from even this modest set of reforms. That is a shame because when small lenders shut their doors, communities throughout America pay the price. Even in this online era, research tells us that the closure of physical banks makes it harder for farmers, ranchers, small business owners, and low-income families to access capital. This story has played out thousands of times across the country.

The legislation before us would restore a community lenders' ability to provide credit without having to navigate a maze of regulation that was designed for far bigger organizations.

This commonsense bill has earned the support of a wide bipartisan coalition. I would urge all Members to join us in moving it forward this afternoon.

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