Cotton Sponsors Community Bank Regulatory Relief Bill

Statement

Congressman Tom Cotton released the following statement after sponsoring H.R. 2547, legislation that would delay implementation of the Basel III regulatory capital requirements on community and regional banks:

"This bill provides a much needed one-year delay on the one-size-fits-all Basel III regulations threatening to crush small, community banks. Such capital requirements are disproportionate to the role these institutions played in the financial instability of recent years--that is to say, none. The bill sensibly requires the federal banking regulators to conduct an empirical study of the impacts these regulations would have on community, mid-size, and regional banks.

"I continually hear from bankers across Arkansas that the rules and regulations of the Dodd-Frank law have put them in a cloud of uncertainty and are hurting their ability to make loans to consumers and small business owners. Further burdening those institutions--and, indirectly, the hardworking Arkansans who rely on them--with Basel III capital requirements that were designed for the largest Wall Street banks is neither prudent nor fair."

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