Main Street Capital Access Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Speaker, as a small business owner, I have seen it. I have lived it. When community banks disappear, families and small businesses lose the local lenders who know their communities and their customers best. Less competition means fewer financing options, higher borrowing costs, and less investment on Main Street, not Wall Street, as some of my colleagues are trying to assert.

This bill lowers unnecessary regulatory costs for community and midsize banks, not those big business center banks on Wall Street and in New York and around the world. In fact, this ends debanking. Mr. Speaker, it restores the flexibility these institutions need to better serve you and your family.

I am also pleased that this bill includes two of my bills: the FDIC Board Accountability Act, which strengthens governance of the FDIC board on behalf of smaller institutions, and the Enhancing Bank Resolution Participation Act, which simply seeks to bring more qualified bidders into failed-bank resolutions when disaster strikes.

Better oversight and broader participation can protect depositors. It is going to promote competition. It reduces further concentration in the banking system, and I would think, Mr. Speaker, we would want that. However, it appears that some on the other side do not.

This package makes it easier to form new banks, strengthens local funding and liquidity, and helps community lenders put more deposits to work financing homes, small businesses, and entrepreneurial dreams.

At a time when Americans are struggling with everyday expenses, Washington should not make credit more expensive through needless red tape.

H.R. 6955, the Main Street Act, will promote competition. It will expand access to capital and help make life more affordable for American families.

I thank the chairman both of the full committee as well as our subcommittee, and I urge passage.

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