Community Financial Institutions and Fostering Economic Growth

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank Mr. Luetkemeyer and Mr. Murphy of Florida for drafting the legislation before us this afternoon and for working together on the Financial Services Committee.

H.R. 3329 provides targeted regulatory relief for small bank holding companies. Under the current regulatory framework, the Federal Reserve's rules sometimes make it difficult for small banks to make acquisitions. This is because the acquiring institution often uses debt financing to make the acquisition.

Recognizing that many small institutions rely on debt financing for an institution, the Federal Reserve requires policy statements to ensure the debt is managed properly and subsidiary banks are well capitalized. The legislation before us today makes it easier to form new holding companies, fund existing holding companies and make acquisitions by issuing debt at the holding company level by raising the threshold from $500 million in consolidated assets to $1 billion in consolidated assets.

I commend the authors of this bill for their hard work on this bipartisan legislation which passed the committee by voice vote last November. This is about creating jobs, getting credit across the country for consumers and for small business owners.

I urge adoption of the bill and reserve the balance of my time.

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