American Access to Banking Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6644) a bill to increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support today of our collaborative and bipartisan bill titled: ``Housing for the 21st Century Act.''

Americans across our Nation have faced the tough reality of out-of- control costs because of the recent spike in inflation coming out of the pandemic.

President Trump has prioritized addressing affordability, and the Financial Services Committee has been working on solutions in our Committee's area of jurisdiction.

Alongside Ranking Member Waters, Chairman Flood of our Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, and Ranking Member Cleaver of our Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, together, we have introduced the Housing for the 21st Century Act to deliver a straightforward approach to housing. This includes building more homes and removing barriers standing in the way with an eye towards driving down that marginal cost of a new unit.

Mr. Speaker, the Housing for the 21st Century Act will streamline approvals and simplify the Federal and local housing process to give rural and urban communities the tools they need to build homes faster. Importantly, our bill helps banks access stable deposit funding. It streamlines the exam process that is tailored particularly for our vital community banks. It helps promote more community banks to do what they do best, which is lend locally and support their communities.

I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, that on this House floor all of us know that without our community banks and without vigorous lending, homes don't get built. Our communities and regional banks play a key role in that housing construction ecosystem.

When there are not enough homes, prices go up. The Housing for the 21st Century Act includes real bipartisan solutions to expand supply, lower costs, and, more importantly, give our families more options.

Let's deliver this real solution and return the housing market back to working for the very people that it should serve, the very people we do serve in the people's House.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I include in the Record the CBO estimate for this bill.

Mr. Speaker, from Los Angeles, California, to the capital city of Little Rock, Arkansas, I have heard directly, Mr. Cleaver has heard directly from Kansas City, and other Members hear directly about what is wrong at HUD. We are asked about how we can improve these programs and make them work for the American people and how they can have more accountability and more effectiveness for the taxpayer dollars that are expended.

That is at the heart of the work that Mr. Cleaver and Mr. Flood have done, as I say, benefiting a big city like the Los Angeles Basin all the way to a capital city like Little Rock, Arkansas, and certainly to Lincoln, Nebraska.

I am so pleased to have the leadership of the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Flood), who serves as the chair in this Congress of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee. Mr. Flood has spent a lot of time working with Mr. Cleaver to do exactly that: How to make these programs more effective for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Flood), the author of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Nebraska.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Cleaver for his work with Mr. Flood on this bill and his leadership in trying to find bipartisan solutions.

Mr. Speaker, I met last week with the community development folks from Little Rock, Arkansas. Kevin Howard, my friend who runs Housing and Community Development for the city of Little Rock, was in, singing the praises of this bill of how it will make their work so much more effective were the 21st century housing proposal enacted into law today.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a link to a list of over 70 organizations that support this bill being enacted: https:// financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle. aspx?DocumentID=411018

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga), the vice chairman of our full committee, the Committee on Financial Services, for remarks on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the work of my friend from Illinois on this bill, the important work he has done both in the housing portion and on the work we have done together on nonbank designations. I appreciate his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, he mentioned the importance of community banks, from Texas to California, Arkansas, and across this country. The reason why it is so important to link housing and lowering housing cost policies, these HUD-related policies, to banking is because our banks under $10 billion, Mr. Speaker, make about 60 percent of all the home construction loans in our country.

Therefore, that is why the ranking member and I, and our committee, have chosen to come to this House floor to talk about some specific housing measures. I want to make sure that the American people know that we know that the supply of housing has to be financed. Some 60 percent of that is done by our local community banks and credit unions spread across this country.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz), the author of section 106 in this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose), who has authored the very important manufactured housing provisions, which will immediately help our consumers, our families, across this country have a more affordable housing option.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Rose certainly talked about cost savings due to the deregulatory nature of this bill, lowering costs. All of us here know that we have learned in our committee work that 25 percent of the price of a new home in America is due to regulatory costs, State, local, and Federal. So, our bill has that as a theme.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nunn). He has worked hard at making sure these improvements in the Housing for the 21st Century Act fully apply to housing in rural areas, not just urban areas.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Kim), a great member of our House Financial Services Committee and a senior member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentlewoman from California.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, first, I have to say a big thank-you to Ranking Member Waters; the ranking member of our subcommittee, Mr. Cleaver; and the tireless leadership of Mike Flood, the chair of our Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance. They have collaborated for a year to bring these proposals to the House floor today.

I reiterate that the linkage of housing and community banking is two sides of the same coin that leads to a better outcome, more choice, more accessibility, more affordability, and more housing choices for the American people.

This bill also has important HUD oversight, which I think is critical to make sure those who are tenants in HUD programs have the care, oversight, and safe and sound conditions they deserve.

Mr. Speaker, I also thank the staff on both sides of the aisle for their work in putting this bill together, particularly on the majority side, Ed Skala and Maura Woosley, for their collaboration on the banking provisions with their minority colleagues and the community banking provisions.

I urge Members on both sides of the aisle to provide a ``yes'' vote for this important banking and housing legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4544) to direct certain Federal banking and credit union agencies to promote the formation of de novo regulated institutions through the review of application processes, the review of capital raising by de novo regulated institutions, and the establishment of various outreach programs, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the CBO estimate for this bill.

Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules

The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives

announces bills that will be considered under suspension of

the rules in that chamber. Under suspension, floor debate is

limited, all floor amendments are prohibited, points of order

against the bill are waived, and final passage requires a

two-thirds majority vote.

At the request of the Majority Leader and the House

Committee on the Budget, CBO estimates the effects of those

bills on direct spending and revenues. CBO has limited time

to review the legislation before consideration. Although it

is possible in most cases to determine whether the

legislation would affect direct spending or revenues, time

may be insufficient to estimate the magnitude of those

effects. If CBO has prepared estimates for similar or

identical legislation, a more detailed assessment of

budgetary effects, including effects on spending subject to

appropriation, may be included.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the ranking member's bill, H.R. 4544, the American Access to Banking Act. I thank Ms. Waters for her diligent work on this important bipartisan legislation.

Over the past decade, Mr. Speaker, the United States has lost nearly 2,000 community banks, while only 62 de novo banks have opened during that same period.

These essential institutions have disappeared from Main Streets across America due to mergers, acquisitions, and bank failures. In one out of every three counties in our country, a community bank is the only on-the-ground banking option--one out of every three counties. That is why it is important to consider this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I was the CEO of a community bank in the Mississippi Delta where there were very few banking offices available for small businesses and agricultural communities spread out across the rural heartland. I have to say it is very troubling when a local farmer tries to finance his equipment or where a small business owner wants to expand their restaurant or get their first loan to start a business if there is not a community bank. That is where families go to build relationships with lenders who know their names, understand their communities, and recognize their circumstances.

Why aren't new banks forming? It is because we have made it extraordinarily difficult to start one. The application process is often complex, duplicative, and overly burdensome. Some of the requirements aren't even in statute that are held out for that young business development team, those young officers who want to go out on their own to serve a community by creating a new depository institution.

That is why I am pleased to support the ranking member of the full committee, Ms. Waters of California's, American Access to Banking Act.

This bill directs the Federal bank regulators to make it easier to start a new bank or credit union by streamlining the application process, improving the capital-raising options, establishing mentorship programs, and strengthening coordination between Federal and State regulators.

Banking is not a partisan issue, and every American deserves access to a financial institution that can meet their needs.

This bill is very complementary of efforts made by our Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chair, Andy Barr of Kentucky, to try to remove barriers to improving the ability to start a bank in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I am a proud supporter of this bipartisan legislation. I thank the ranking member for her leadership on it. I encourage my colleagues to support it, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I, again, thank the gentlewoman for her work on this bill. Over this Congress, we have had some really inspirational people come and testify.

In fact, all three that I am picturing in my mind are women and all three came to the committee to talk about the burdens of trying to start a new bank or build a small community bank.

I remember BankMiami was a case, and there have been quite a number of start-up banks in south Florida that are Minority Depository Institutions.

We had inspirational speakers in our committee, and they said we need to do better here on this. This is at the heart of what the ranking member is talking about. How can we improve this process so that more people can take that decision, if their market and the characteristics of their economics and their geography would be rewarded by new bank startups?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for her leadership. I invite her to close, and I urge all of our colleagues to support her effort.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the ranking member for her work on this bill. I urge all my colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6644, the Housing for the 21st Century Act, sponsored by myself and, of course, by Representatives Hill, Cleaver, and Flood.

Our housing and homelessness crisis has reached a breaking point, as millions of Americans each night struggle to find a decent, stable, and affordable place to live. The struggle has real faces of our children's teachers, working mothers, veterans, and, of course, children from all over the country. The struggle is in our rural towns, urban areas, and suburban neighborhoods across America.

On any given night, 800,000 people are experiencing homelessness in the United States of America. Rents nationwide have soared by 47 percent, and home prices have skyrocketed 57 percent. Incomes haven't kept pace with these increases, which means housing eats up more and more of a family's paycheck.

As the lead Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, it has been my mission to fight to end this homelessness and housing crisis. The Housing for the 21st Century Act is a critical first step in that mission.

Passed in Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support, H.R. 6644 sets the stage for building and preserving more affordable homes in our neighborhood. It makes many long overdue improvements to housing programs, expands local development opportunities, and broadens access to homeownership.

H.R. 6644 also includes a dozen bipartisan provisions to help small banks like community development financial institutions, the CDFIs, and minority depository institutions, the MDIs. It helps meet the housing and other needs of our constituents.

The bill also addresses concerns from the 2023 banking crisis that will now promote a safe, sound, and competitive banking system, one that doesn't threaten our housing markets or our economy.

This package represents a historical, bipartisan agreement. I am proud that Mr. Hill and I, along with Mr. Flood and Mr. Cleaver, have been able to work together to prioritize the housing needs of millions of Americans and advance this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to highlight House and committee Democrats who worked tirelessly with me on this package. H.R. 6644 includes 25 provisions that come directly from bills championed and introduced by House Democrats and another 16 provisions that House Democrats co-led.

I am excited that it includes my bill, H.R. 5077, which would allow cities to use CDBG funds toward affordable housing construction.

It also includes H.R. 6774, which would finally create a pilot program at the Federal Housing Administration to offer small-dollar mortgages.

It includes my bill, H.R. 6773, which directs cities across America to finally publish a database of their unused land so that developers may be able to bid on it and build more housing.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that it includes my bill, H.R. 4544, to encourage the formation of new banks including CDFIs and MDIs so that borrowers will have more options when they want to buy a home.

While we come today to pass this initial bill, let me be clear that much more work is needed. We can't pass this bill, call it a night, and then claim that this affordable housing and homelessness crisis is over. A significant problem warrants a significant response, which means that we need significant Federal investments to solve this crisis.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that this administration is watching today and learns something about true bipartisanship and getting things done for the American people. Our bill is the type of bipartisan work that is needed to tackle the crisis facing Americans. Among meaningless tweets, empty promises, costly tariffs, and ridiculous policies like the 50- year mortgage, while this affordability crisis rages on, Congress can act tonight to support Americans who are looking for real housing solutions.

Mr. Speaker, that is why I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4544, the American Access to Banking Act that I sponsored.

The number of new banks and credit unions called de novo institutions, that were formed over the past 15 years has been very low. There were only 6 new bank charters issued annually the past 15 years and only 29 new credit unions formed between 2014 and 2023.

During that time, we saw about one-third of all Minority Depository Institutions, or MDIs, disappear, including half of our Black-owned banks.

Now, research from the Federal Reserve and others found a strong correlation between the interest rate environment and new bank formation.

In fact, we did have historically low interest rates at zero percent for many years as we slowly recovered from the crisis, but there is more we can do to help.

Earlier this year, ReShonda Young testified before our committee about the challenges she is facing just trying to establish an MDI in Iowa.

Ms. Young's story is remarkable. When she was a small business owner with a popcorn business, she tried to get a loan, and she was discriminated against by bank after bank after bank.

What did she do? She joined with other entrepreneurs and sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for dragging its feet and not implementing section 1071 to ensure we have a more fair and transparent small business loan market. Her lawsuit helped push the CFPB to finalize that overdue rule.

But Ms. Young did not stop there. She decided to start her own bank so that she could provide the kind of small business loans to others that she was repeatedly denied for.

Ms. Young's story is an American story. When you get knocked down, you get back up and you keep pushing for a better way. Not only that, but you work to help others in your community so they can have chances that you never had.

In her testimony, Ms. Young highlighted a few challenges with the de novo process, like a lengthy application checklist. My bill would require these outdated procedures to be streamlined.

My bill would also minimize duplicative data requests, and require regulators to review capital-raising challenges de novos face in consultation with the SEC.

My bill also requires the designation of a caseworker as a single point of contact to assist de novo applicants throughout the process.

H.R. 4544 further requires the development of outreach and education program and Federal regulator engagement with stakeholders as well as coordination with State regulators to support them in chartering de novo firms.

For any American like Ms. Young who wants to start a bank or credit union, they should have that chance, and the American Access to Banking Act will help give them that chance.

Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support my bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman very much for advancing my bill to this point and helping to get it passed through the House not only as a standalone bill but also as part of our housing bill.

Entrepreneurs like Ms. ReShonda Young who dream of starting their own bank or credit union and providing access to affordable financial products and services to neighbors in their community should have that chance.

My bill has broad support, including from the American Bankers Association, America's Credit Unions, Conference of State Bank Supervisors, Consumer Federation of America, Defense Credit Union Council, National Bankers Association, and National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Hill; Ranking Member Waters; and my counterpart on the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, Ranking Member Cleaver, for all of their work on this package.

This is how Congress is supposed to work. We all worked hard to bring forth a bipartisan housing bill that addresses housing affordability. The Housing for the 21st Century Act cuts costs, slashes red tape, and will increase housing supply.

There is no question that the legislation before us is a historic rewriting of our housing laws to bring our housing market into the 21st century.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the median annual existing home price in 2024 was up 69 percent relative to 1995, and that figure is adjusted for inflation. The realtors also have data showing that the median age of a first-time home buyer is 40 years old. This is an absolutely astounding figure.

Some estimates put the gap between housing supply and demand at about 3.85 million units, while other estimates show it to be 5 million units. This housing affordability challenge affects everyone, from young people saving up for their first home, to middle-class workers who are working as hard as they can to provide for their family and are just trying to make the rent.

There is no silver bullet for fixing this problem, but I think that this bill, this legislation, includes a range of meaningful housing reforms that will add to housing supply and ultimately decrease housing costs.

I will take a moment to highlight a few provisions that I think will make a difference. Section 104 and 105 of the bill works to rightsize the environmental reviews on both HUD and USDA housing projects to properly reflect their impact on the environment. This legislation ensures that these environmental reviews are properly tailored to the real impact of a project going forward, and this change will ensure that more housing projects break ground on time and on budget.

Section 201 includes reform of the HOME Investment Partnerships, the largest block grant program at HUD dedicated to building affordable housing. This bill would change HOME by slashing environmental reviews, easing labor cost burdens like the ones created by section 3 HUD requirements, and providing greater flexibility for cities and towns across the country to use HOME dollars to promote homeownership.

Section 301 makes important changes for manufactured housing. I give a special thanks to Congressman John Rose and his extremely important bill that would remove the requirement that a manufactured home be built with a chassis. That saves money. That one change is going to enable a significant growth for manufactured housing, and it will reduce the cost of manufactured homes.

Finally, title 6 of this bill adds meaningful community banking reforms to this legislation. It eases the burdens for de novo banks so that new banks can get off the ground. It tailors regulatory requirements for the smallest community banks, and it reforms the bank resolution process.

Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that the Housing for the 21st Century Act is a comprehensive, bipartisan housing reform package that will increase housing supply, slash government regulations that keep housing costs high, and unleash our community banking sector.

Mr. Speaker, I thank everybody who worked on this bill, especially the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver), Chairman Hill, and Ranking Member Waters.