Stress Test Improvement Act of 2017

Floor Speech

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Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4293, the Stress Test Improvement Act, bipartisan legislation by my great colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin).

We keep hearing about megabanks, but all banks affect industries, small businesses, and large businesses. So every time we adjust the marketplace and we make more regulations, you also impact small businesses as well, and our ability to survive. As the owner of a small business, this affects me as well.

But stress testing is an important tool that can encourage the safety and soundness of an individual depository institution and the overall health of the banking system, including all banks, across all sizes and sectors. However, the Federal Reserve has implemented its stress testing in a manner that imposes unnecessary burdens without providing proportionate benefits. This is especially true for smaller institutions for which the cost of this exercise is disproportionately burdensome. It can also affect larger banks.

H.R. 4293 would fix the tests so they can properly show smarter ways to strengthen a financial institution's planning. This legislation improves the Federal Reserve's stress testing processes mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act by requiring a select group of banks, or bank holding companies, to conduct internal, company-run stress tests once a year rather than semiannually.

I want to thank Mr. Zeldin again for sponsoring this, as always, a bipartisan piece of legislation. And it is important to note that, if we are going to reduce regulations and burdensome fees and procedures on companies, it has to be across all sectors, not just one. And I think this legislation shows that and shows the sponsor's willingness to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I urge all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation.

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