Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Florida (Mr. Ross) for introducing this important measure being considered today.

Mr. Speaker, the Dodd-Frank Act introduced into our Nation's capital a new culture of regulatory burden where a select few Washington bureaucrats dictate how our Nation's financial institutions should run themselves. While I support the necessary regulations from our Nation's fiduciary rule makers that upholds the goals of safety, soundness, and fair play, far too often our regulators have overstepped their boundaries and entered into dangerous territory of overregulation.

Section 113 of the Dodd-Frank Act gave the Financial Stability Oversight Council immense deliberate power to declare nonbank financial companies as systemically important to the financial stability of the United States.

Once that determination is made, these nonbank financial institutions become subject to extraordinarily stringent prudential supervision and regulation by the Federal Reserve. This is a power that should not be taken lightly.

FSOC's systemically important designation carries with it a significant regulatory burden, a new public perception, and a new regulator.

Mr. Ross' legislation would require the FSOC, when deliberating on whether or not to designate a nonbank as systemically important, to consider the appropriateness of imposing new burdens on the institution, as opposed to pursuing other forms of regulation to mitigate identified risk to the financial stability of the United States.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ross' legislation would help end the culture of overregulation in Washington and alleviate the intense burden that has been imposed on many institutions that have unsparingly received this designation.

This is not to say that FSOC's power to designate institutions as systemically important should not be used, but rather that FSOC should exercise its authority judiciously and in its intended manner.

Mr. Ross' bill ensures that the FSOC's designations going forward will be prudent, shrewd, and most important, necessary.

The good news out of Washington is that the culture of overregulation is changing. A new era has been ushered in that thinks twice before regulating, thoughtfully revisits the necessity and effectiveness in past regulations, and considers the burden of future regulations.

Much of this has to do with the changes in leadership at the regulatory agencies and the good work being pursued there. But changes in who creates and enforces the regulations aren't enough.

In order for our small towns to be able to prosper, our small businesses to grow, and our families to succeed, we must continue to pursue legislative changes to regulations that sustain

this new era of regulatory cautiousness and predictability.

By pursuing legislative fixes to regulatory problems, we can provide the certainty required by our financial sector, both big and small, to once again provide a bright future for the American economy and for American families.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ross' legislation being considered on the floor helps to cement that certainty, and I encourage my colleagues to support the measure here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the Pueblo City- County Library District in Pueblo, Colorado and the Mancos Public Library in Mancos, Colorado. Both libraries were nominated among 29 finalists for the 2018 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. In addition to being a finalist, Pueblo City-County Library District was awarded one of the 10 medals that are presented annually.

The medal is the highest national honor for museums and libraries. They are recognized for their outstanding contributions in the areas of education, civic life engagement, advanced workforce development, and enrichment of cultural and lifelong learning opportunities.

Due to the strong leadership of Jon Walker, the Executive Director of the Pueblo City-County Library District and Lee Halberg, the Executive Director of the Mancos Public Library, both libraries make a variety of valuable resources and programs available to the communities they serve, which has helped to enrich the lives of many living in their respective communities.

Libraries and museums have historically served as vital resources within our nation's

communities by bolstering the economy, aiding our schools, and preserving our cultural heritage for future generations. I am proud to see the libraries in Pueblo and Mancos celebrated on a national platform.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Colorado's Third Congressional District it is my privilege to honor the Pueblo City-County Library District and the Mancos Public Library for their work as leading library institutions in our state. I have visited the libraries many times and the staff there are true professionals who deserve this recognition. We are thankful for their continued efforts to improve the lives of those living in the Third Congressional District and I stand with all Colorado in thanking them for their work.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Eady James of Eagle, Colorado and Heather Schadt of Durango, Colorado for earning Critical Language Scholarships from the U.S. Department of State, which have allowed them to study abroad in China.

The Critical Language Scholarship Program is a highly competitive and intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program that is administered through the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. In an increasingly competitive world, this program serves an important purpose by helping American student's master languages that are deemed critical to national security and economic prosperity.

Throughout their time overseas, Eady and Heather were able to increase their language fluency, expand their cultural competency, and share their American values with their Chinese hosts. Both of them have returned to the United States, Eady to Western Kentucky University and Heather to Lewis & Clark College, after studying Advanced Chinese in two different regions of China.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize these accomplished students for their hard work and academic success. I stand with the residents of Colorado's Third Congressional District in congratulating Eady and Heather on their achievement, and I wish them luck in their future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Lt. Col. Mark Young for his 35 years of volunteerism in Colorado. His service to others began during the blizzard of 1982 where he spent all night in his truck with his CB radio answering calls to help stranded motorists.

On top of his volunteer work, Lt. Col. Young spent 29 years as a volunteer paramedic in Costilla County, using his knowledge as a paramedic to help thousands of his fellow citizens. In addition, he assisted his community in the creation of a volunteer ambulance service.

In 1996, Lt. Col. Young continued his service and joined the Montrose County Sheriff Posse as a volunteer search and rescue firefighter. Over the next 20 years he provided hundreds of hours of free helicopter service, and went on numerous rescue missions, providing vital helicopter support on each of those rescues. Just over a year ago, Lt. Col. Young and his team were able to rescue a pilot from Colorado Springs that got wrecked in the Flat Tops Wilderness Area in Garfield County Colorado.

Mr. Speaker, whether it was spending all night on Christmas Eve helping motorists during a blizzard, or flying a helicopter for Search

and Rescue missions, Lt. Col. Young has always been eager to serve his fellow Americans. It is my pleasure to recognize Lt. Col. Young for all his generosity. On behalf of the Third District of Colorado I would like to thank Lt. Col. Young for his generous service to his community.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity today to be able to advance an important piece of bipartisan legislation. The Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act seeks to bring fairness to the Federal financial regulators' examination appeals process by instituting a uniform framework free from examination retaliation.

Our community banks and credit unions currently have no independent recourse in the appeals process of examination decisions. These institutions often lack the experience, capacity, and resources needed to effectively resolve challenges to Federal financial regulators' examination determinations as each regulator has its own different rules and standards for the appeals process.

Under the current examination appeals framework, appeals of material supervisory determinations, which are decisions of significant consequence that can have serious impact on the financial institution's future, run through the agency that handed down the decision in the first place.

Mr. Speaker, that is like asking an arresting police officer to also be the judge and the jury when a case goes to trial.

Put simply, this legislation will move away from that framework and establish an independent office of review to address appeals of serious consequence, and harmonize and consolidate the appeals process across the various Federal regulators so that the review process is fair and predictable.

One banker in Colorado put it to me this way: ``The Dodd-Frank Act has added complexity and uncertainty to the entire exam process and to the bank's ability to serve its customers confidently and in full compliance of regulations.''

He continues: ``For instance, overlap between the OCC and CFPB is an ongoing issue. The OCC lost regulatory oversight with the Dodd-Frank Act and the foundation of the CFPB, especially in the fair lending world. When the CFPB made it clear they were not going to examine the banks over $10 billion on fair lending the way that the OCC had historically done it, the OCC started expanding the way that they assessed a bank's Compliance Management Program to add questions about fair lending, including transaction sampling and testing. It creates a very burdensome environment as well as duplication and the risk of double jeopardy.''

Mr. Speaker, an examination environment that runs the risk of duplication and double jeopardy between agencies isn't tenable and puts our community institutions at risk of being examined into extinction.

This environment is further complicated by the reality that, currently, institutions that want to appeal double jeopardy examination results would have to appeal through two regulators who likely aren't communicating with one another about the other's exam determinations.

The Examination Fairness bill before the House today would solve this problem by establishing an Office of Independent Examination Review, which would function as a consolidated, sober judge of the examination appeals process. This newly created office under the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council would provide a community bank or credit union an avenue

for independent recourse to appeal a material supervisory determination where fairness, transparency, and timeliness are paramount. Because this new review process only applies to material supervisory determinations, the new process is limited in scope and reserved only for the most serious appeals.

This legislation is also careful not to constrain the power of the regulators to pursue enforcement actions or to prevent them from issuing a further material supervisory determination. In fact, enforcement actions resulting from a determination would continue to be enforced under this new appeals process until the independent office either agrees with the finding of the regulator or overturns a determination of the regulator.

Mr. Speaker, by creating consistency; instituting timeline expectations of examinations and appeals; increasing transparency; and adding independent, sober review of appeals to the rights of the financial institutions, H.R. 4545 will go a long way to usher in a new environment of fairness in the examination appeals process for small banks and credit unions. Giving these institutions independent recourse in the appeals process will create greater certainty that they won't have to reduce their financial service product offerings because of an unfair or untimely review.

Mr. Speaker, that translates to greater assurances for communities across the country that their small banks and credit unions will be able to provide a mortgage for their home, a loan for their car, and capital for their small businesses to be able to grow.

This measure passed out of the Financial Services Committee with strong bipartisan support, with a majority of our Democrat colleagues joining with us to be able to support exam fairness. I would like to thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), for her support of this measure's consideration here today.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Buck) for the time, and I appreciate consideration of the rule here today.

Mr. Speaker, both of the bills being considered under this rule amount to real relief for our Nation's community banks and credit unions.

H.R. 1116, the TAILOR Act, which passed out of committee with bipartisan support, will direct Federal financial regulators to tailor their regulations to the risk profile and business model of our institutions, meaning that regulation intended for the largest financial institutions will no longer burden the smallest of our institutions.

Our community banks and credit unions have long suffered the consequences and costs of complying with extensive heavyhanded and onerous regulations. They were created after the 2008 financial crisis. While many of these regulations are necessary for financial institutions of all sizes, many are not.

Complying with manifold regulations has significantly hampered the ability of our community institutions to offer credit to small businesses, help families get a mortgage, and extend loans to retirees and the recently employed. As one community banker wrote to me: ``We have seen time and again the impact of this regulatory environment consume many hours and resources of our compliance, credit, and audit teams despite the relatively simple business model we follow.''

By requiring financial regulators to consider the cost of compliance on smaller institutions as well as whether or not a regulation is necessary for an institution based on the size and risk profile of that institution, the TAILOR Act will go a long way to alleviate the burden of heavy regulation on our community banks. In turn, this will lead to renewed economic growth for our local communities that rely heavily on the presence of community banks and credit unions in their own hometowns.

The other bill being considered under this rule, H.R. 4545, which also came out of committee with bipartisan support, the Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act, will provide certainty for community banks and credit unions that they will have independent recourse should a bank examination result in a determination that they disagree with.

If a bank or a credit union receives an examination decision that it finds unfavorable, the only recourse it has under the current structure is to appeal that decision directly to the same regulator that arrived at that decision in the first place. The Exam Fairness bill included in this rule will change that reality by creating a new Office of Independent Examination Review that will serve as an independent appeals office, providing banks and credit unions with uniform and predictable avenues to appeal examination determinations of significant consequence.

At this independent office, sober review of the agency's determination, transparency, and timeliness will be paramount, meaning that financial institutions will no longer have to wade through long delays in their appeals process and will no longer have to fear retaliation from a financial regulator because they appealed the examination results. Mr. Speaker, this amounts to new assurances to community banks and credit unions that they will have fair recourse in the examination process should they disagree with an examiner's findings.

I would like to thank the Speaker for advancing this rule.

I urge my colleagues to support the rule so that our community banks and credit unions can realize real relief.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Hensarling for his leadership on this issue, as well, and for considering this bipartisan legislation today.

Mr. Speaker, the ever-growing burden and complexity of financial regulations is creating an environment of difficult choices for community banks and credit unions. Often, they must choose to incur the costs of complying with a regulation or cease to offer the financial product the regulation modifies. Whatever choice these community institutions make, it is the local consumer and the local economy that loses.

Burdensome regulations drive up the costs of financial products and limit choices for consumers, which decreases a community's access to financial products and services that help their families to be able to buy their first home, to help small businesses grow.

In districts like mine in Colorado, that amounts to real economic impact, especially in towns where the community bank or credit union on the corner is the only true access to credit that the community has.

When smaller institutions are unable to absorb the costs of additional compliance, it is the small towns across America that are disproportionately affected.

As one banker from Colorado recently wrote me: We have seen time and again the impact of this regulatory environment consume many hours and resources of our compliance, credit, and audit teams despite the relatively simple business model that we follow.

Mr. Speaker, that is why the bipartisan TAILOR Act's consideration on the floor today is so important. The TAILOR Act directs the Federal financial regulators to take into account the risk profile and business model of institutions as they develop new regulations, making them more targeted, more deliberate. The TAILOR Act also instructs regulators to weigh the impact that new regulatory burdens will have on smaller institutions, meaning real relief from compliance burdens for banks and credit unions.

To put the impact of regulations into perspective, the Dodd-Frank Act alone created 400 new rules and came with 30,000 pages of explanation. In my travels across Colorado, I have heard far too often that community institutions have been forced to stop making home loans or loans to small businesses because they can't afford to hire more employees to manage the added compliance paperwork.

The TAILOR Act would make sure that the compliance burdens are considered when new regulations are made so that community financial institutions won't have to choose between the needs of their communities and complying with regulations out of Washington, D.C. Community banks and credit unions need to be able to prioritize their customers and the needs of their communities instead of prioritizing compliance with heavy-handed regulations.

One community banker from Colorado brought this into focus when he wrote me saying: Providing a real-time view of risk and continual review of such a risk applicable to each financial institution allows regulators to direct their attention to developing issues that could have the most damaging effect. With the number of financial institutions declining to historically low levels, the redeployment of focus based on complexity makes sense.

Mr. Speaker, in Colorado, mortgages haven't been made, loans to expand small businesses have been denied, retirees and recently employed workers have been turned away, and relationships between community bankers and their neighbors have been discarded. The one- size-fits-all approach to regulating the financial services industry has resulted in decreased access to much-needed credit.

America is now in a position to be able to address this. The trickle- down effect of regulation intended to respond to the culpable actions of the big banks after the 2008 financial crisis is harming Main Street and the ability of everyday Americans to be able to realize their financial goals. Directing the regulators to refocus their regulations will help Americans start achieving their goals once again.

Once more, the regulators themselves have acknowledged the need for tailored regulations. Both Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Powell have acknowledged the significant need for a return to common sense in the financial regulatory landscape. Mr. Speaker, the TAILOR Act, which passed out of the Financial Services Committee with broad bipartisan support, does just that.

Mr. Speaker, I would again like to thank Chairman Hensarling for considering this measure here today.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for this time to be able to speak to an important piece of legislation.

In my home State of Colorado, we have a tale of two economies. The urban areas have realized economic recovery since 2008, while the more rural communities have been slower to find sustained economic growth. Essential to these areas and their ability to be able to recover, a topic that I speak frequently on, is access to credit.

As Treasury's report to the President in June of 2017 notes: Regulations on capital, liquidity, and leverage requirements, as well as regulatory parameters that guide loan underwriting, have undermined the ability of financial institutions to deliver attractively priced credit in sufficient quantity to meet the needs of the economy.

In other words, our community financial institutions have lost access to the tools that they need to be able to help their communities recover as they have struggled to comply with regulations intended for the largest institutions. Mr. Speaker, it is our local communities, our small businesses, our first-time home buyers, and our working families who suffer the consequences from these regulations.

Mr. Speaker, let me give you one example of what unbridled regulation does and how it impacts families trying to be able to live that American Dream.

I have an example of a credit union in my home State of Colorado that had to stop offering home equity lines of credit to its members because the cost of keeping the forms in compliance with Federal regulation exceeded the income generated by the program. In other words, regulation priced this credit union out of a critical market and at a time when the rural environment the credit union serves needed access to credit most.

Fortunately, Mr. Loudermilk's legislation being considered here today will take important steps to require regulators to consider the institution's size and risk profile as they evaluate the necessity and effectiveness of regulatory rulemaking under the self-review mandated to them by the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act. Importantly, Mr. Loudermilk's legislation will also expand the EGRPRA process to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Credit Union Administration, encouraging the tailoring of regulations across the regulatory spectrum.

This legislation takes steps to encourage regulators to allow small institutions adequate leeway to exercise reasonably constructed consumer lending regimes to make sure consumers have the broadest array of choices and that institutions can appropriately navigate the compliance landscape.

Mr. Speaker, by requiring regulators to more frequently review and tailor regulations, this bill will help put Main Street back on the path to prosperity and help to end the tale of two economies in Colorado and throughout the Nation. Making these adjustments will help community banks and credit unions once again be able to meet the needs of their neighbors and encourage our businesses to be able to grow.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting being able to listen to this debate. The common ground is we want to be able to have consumers have access to capital, and we also want responsible lending. We now need to reset this debate to the reality that is being faced on the ground.

In an already challenging loan environment for many banks nationwide, the Madden v. Midland decision has further limited the ability of national banks to be able to issue credit. Because of the court's decision not to apply the valid-when-made doctrine to its decision, which would have preserved lawful interest rates originated by a bank for nonbanks and third parties, access to credit and risk mitigation tools have been placed into jeopardy.

The legal uncertainty resulting from the Madden decision has led to a reduction in responsible and affordable lending, and has limited consumers' access to better and cheaper choices.

Fortunately, the vice chairman's legislation, the Protecting Consumers' Access to Credit Act of 2017, would reassert the valid-when- made principle, to ensure that a loan that is valid at its inception cannot become invalid or unenforceable upon a subsequent transfer to another person or party.

This legislation promotes healthy financial markets and would help improve the often-limiting loan environment facing banks nationwide. This

measure is important for our families and small businesses, for whom access to credit is critical to success.

Further, this legislation ensures that innovative marketplace lending remains intact while simultaneously providing safe consumer protections.

I would like to thank Mr. McHenry for supporting and developing this bipartisan legislation to be able to help preserve access to credit for those who need it most, and I encourage my colleagues to support the measure here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the athletes from Colorado's Third Congressional District who are competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The dedication, passion, and spirit of these 21 men and women prove that they are some of the best our nation has to offer, and they serve as a model for young adults all around the world. I am proud to recognize these athletes for their impressive achievement:

Competing in Alpine Skiing: David Chodounsky, Wiley Maple, Alice McKennis, and Mikaela Shiffrin;

Competing in Bobsled: Nathan Weber;

Competing in Cross-Country Skiing: Simi Hamilton and Noah Hoffman;

Competing in Freestyle Skiing: Aaron Blunck, Alex Ferreira, Gus Kenworthy, Keaton McCargo, and Torin Yater-Wallace;

Competing in Nordic Combined: Ben Berend, Bryan Fletcher, Taylor Fletcher, and Jasper Good;

And competing in Snowboarding: Mick Dierdorff, Arielle Gold, Hagen Kearney, Jake Pates, and Meghan Tierney.

While I am here to acknowledge the athletes that hail from my home district, I would like to thank every member of Team USA for their continued contribution to their sports and communities.

Mr. Speaker, it is truly an honor to recognize each of these accomplished athletes. Their talent, hard work, and commitment has allowed them to compete on an international platform and I have no doubt they will make our nation proud. I want to thank them for representing the United States and Colorado's Third Congressional District and I wish them luck as they prepare for their upcoming competitions.

Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the capture of the USS Pueblo by North Korea so I rise today in honor of her crew members and their unwavering courage.

The USS Pueblo is an intelligence ship named after the city of Pueblo, located in Colorado's Third Congressional District. On January 23, 1968 she was attacked and captured by North Korean forces while sailing in international waters during the Cold War. The unlawful seizure of the USS Pueblo resulted in the imprisonment and torture of 82 of her crew members. Tragically, one crew member died during the seizure of the ship.

For 11 months, the crew was subjected to brutal torture at the hands of their North Korean captors. In recent years, survivors have recounted being forced to walk around the floor on their knees, holding chairs over their heads for long periods of time, being slapped, punched and hit with gun butts, and having firearms held to their heads with threats of death if they did not reveal classified information.

While the United States government was eventually able to negotiate the freedom of the crew members, unfortunately, the USS Pueblo was never released by North Korea and remains in their possession. It sits in the Potong River in Pyongyang where it serves as propaganda for the North Korean government. The state of Colorado, Pueblo County, and Pueblo have all passed resolutions and proclamations requesting the return of the ship, but to no avail. I too would like to see our ship returned home.

In 1989, the United States government finally recognized the crew members' sacrifice and granted them Prisoner of War Medals. However, the public didn't truly become aware of the gruesome torture that the crew endured until 2012, when the National Security Agency released a classified report detailing the abuse and the loss of intelligence documents.

Mr. Speaker, I am extremely thankful for the service of the crew members of the USS Pueblo. In the face of great adversity they survived brutal conditions, starvation, and torture, both physical and psychological. On behalf of Colorado's Third Congressional District I would like to express my deepest gratitude for their bravery. It is my great privilege to honor them and remember their sacrifice here today.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1457) to establish requirements for use of a driver's license or personal identification card by certain financial institutions for opening an account or obtaining a financial product or service, 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 the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, as financial service products continue to merge with the ever-evolving world of technology, the opportunities to reach unbanked and underserved households also continue to increase. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 7 percent of the U.S. population is unbanked, and 19.9 percent is underbanked.

The FDIC has concluded previously that mobile banking is well positioned to meet the day-to-day financial service needs of underbanked consumers as well as consumers at risk of account closure. Providing mobile financial services products to these households has shown to improve their financial outcomes by giving consumers more control over their finances, which helps households avoid burdensome fees and allows them to manage necessary payments more conveniently.

Further FDIC research suggests that nearly three-quarters of all underbanked households have access to a smartphone and that more than one-third of underbanked households used mobile banking in the past year. In particular, the FDIC found that mobile financial services improved account stability by helping underserved consumers successfully manage and maintain bank accounts.

Unfortunately, access to mobile financial service products is not equal across the United States. The Making Online Banking Initiation Legal and Easy Act remedies this lack of parity by establishing a uniform policy nationwide, allowing a financial institution to record personal information from a driver's license for the purpose of opening a bank account with a scan or copy.

The MOBILE Act creates uniform access to helpful financial products and provides certainty to financial institutions to offer their full range of mobile banking products to all consumers nationwide.

While the MOBILE Act creates a consistent law across the United States, it is careful to protect consumer privacy information and existing State privacy laws. The bill requires financial institutions to delete all copies of a driver's license and personal identification after having used them for the permitted purposes of opening an account.

The legislation is also careful not to reduce any financial institution's commitment to comply with Federal and State laws aimed at preventing identity theft, financial fraud, money laundering, or know your customer and Customer Identification Programs.

A Federal Reserve report from 2016 found that mobile banking use was rising at relatively fast rates, reporting that 43 percent of all mobile phone owners with a bank account had used mobile banking in the past 12 months, up from 39 percent in 2014 and 33 percent in 2013.

Following this trend, the use of mobile banking will continue to grow, and the MOBILE Act ensures that every consumer across the country who wants to use a mobile banking product is able to do so. This bill was passed out of the Financial Services Committee on a unanimous, bipartisan vote.

The MOBILE Act provides consumers easier access to the highly regulated financial services industry by simplifying their ability to open an account through the process of scanning or copying their State- issued identification card. As one State banking association wrote to me:

This legislation is mutually beneficial to both financial

institutions and their customers. The MOBILE Act will help

expand access to critical banking services for underbanked

populations by offering similar retail services through

mobile technology.

Increasing access for mobile financial services products also means giving rural communities, like many of the small towns I represent in Colorado, access to financial success. While many of us can drive a short distance, walk into a bank, and open an account, there are rural communities where physical bank locations are few and far between. By allowing those with smartphones to essentially have their bank accounts in their pocket, geography is no longer a constraint to accessing financial services products.

All families should have the tools they need to be able to achieve the financial stability and the prosperity the MOBILE Act will provide.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation is important for the future financial health of our Nation's customers. I urge its passage here today, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1426) to amend the Home Owners' Loan Act to allow Federal savings associations to elect to operate as national banks, and for other purposes.

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, mutual savings banks, cooperative banks, and mutual savings and loan associations are essential community-based financial institutions that have a long history of serving their neighbors and promoting small-town economic growth.

However, many of the benefits once given to Federal savings associations, also known as thrifts, that encouraged community growth and financial well-being have been stifled by changes initiated under the Dodd-Frank Act. While Dodd-Frank eliminated many of the benefits provided to Federal savings associations, the HOLA restrictions, unfortunately, remain.

These restrictions have left Federal savings associations at a disadvantage and without the flexibility needed to adapt to meet community needs and, as a result, are forcing many mutual banks to either close or merge with other institutions, meaning fewer and more expensive choices for consumers hoping to finance important purchases.

H.R. 1426, Mr. Rothfus' bipartisan legislation that passed out of the Financial Services Committee unanimously, would help to preserve these important community financial institutions by providing mutual banks with a framework to become covered savings associations. This process would provide thrifts the ability to operate with the same rights and duties as national banks without subjecting them to a complex, time- consuming, and costly charter conversion process.

Providing thrifts the flexibility to exercise national bank powers without changing their charters would give institutions the ability to exceed the commercial and consumer loan limits that apply under the Home Owners' Loan Act but continue to benefit from their structure for purposes of consolidation, merger, dissolution, conservatorship, and receivership.

Because the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency already supervises both national bank and Federal savings association charters, it is uniquely positioned to provide the structural framework for the election process that would transition the rights and duties of a national bank to a thrift.

Mr. Rothfus' bill instructs the OCC to develop a series of rulemakings to outline this election process, while also requiring safeguards to prevent malpractice in the transition process, as well as abuses in the new structure once it has been instituted.

Community financial institutions should be given the tools they need to lend effectively to their communities, and this bill creates the legislative landscape for savings associations to do just that.

Ultimately, the bill creates opportunities for families and small businesses to access financing for their important purchases, from buying a home to expanding a business.

Federal savings associations have a long, proud history of being responsive to their communities' needs, and this legislation will help them to enhance and continue that record.

I cannot give more emphatic support for this commonsense, bipartisan legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus), vice chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. He is also the sponsor of this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2255), to clarify that nonprofit organizations may accept donated mortgage appraisals, 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 appreciate the opportunity to be able to speak on behalf of these important bills today.

While low-income applicants and homebuilders seek to provide affordable, decent housing opportunities to qualifying individuals and families, these nonprofits rely on the generosity of others in their communities to accomplish their mission. These groups also heavily rely on meticulous budgets, and a change in the input costs can have serious implications for a project's success as well as the number of families a group can serve.

The Dodd-Frank Act increased requirements for real estate appraisers and transferred rulemaking authority for residential mortgage appraisals to the CFPB. Under Dodd-Frank, professionals who furnish appraisal services for a fee are able to receive a payment that is ``customary and reasonable'' for the market area where the appraisal services were performed. However, the CFPB has not defined find the terms ``customary'' and ``reasonable,'' which has left nonprofit housing organizations with the serious concern that they violate the law when the work of appraisers is donated.

If nonprofit housing organizations are required to start paying for appraisal services, which could cost over $1,000 per appraisal, the Dodd-Frank statute could unintentionally limit the number of families in need that these nonprofit organizations can serve.

Mr. Trott's legislation, the Housing Opportunities Made Easier Act, would remedy this uncertainty by amending the Truth in Lending Act to allow mortgage appraisal services to be donated by fee appraisers to an organization that is eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions.

This simple fix will ensure that housing nonprofit organizations can continue to provide their incredibly important services for as many in- need families in our communities as possible, and I commend Mr. Trott for this legislation.

I would also like to voice my support for H.R. 4281, the Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act.

As a former small-business owner in a rural part of Colorado, I know firsthand how important access to capital is for the success of a small business. The majority of capital for small businesses is concentrated in urban areas, and access to capital for rural small businesses can be difficult to come by.

H.R. 4281 would require the SEC's Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation to identify any unique challenges that rural-area small businesses have in securing access to capital and require the Small Business Advocate to provide updates on its findings in its annual report.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of communities across our country, providing jobs and services to those they serve, and this legislation will help hardworking small businesses in rural communities to continue to create jobs and grow their businesses.

I would also like to give my support to Representative Sinema's and Representative Poliquin's bill, the Senior Safe Act, here today. H.R. 3758 takes important steps to safeguard our senior citizens from fraud and abuse by encouraging covered financial institutions to train supervisors, compliance officers, or legal advisers on how to spot and report predatory activity against senior citizens.

This legislation also protects banks, credit unions, investment advisers and

broker-dealers and their employees from civil or administrative liability when reporting fraudulent activity related to senior citizens if an employee is properly trained and reports such activity ``in good faith'' and ``with reasonable care.''

This group of bills will make important and impactful changes for our communities, and I am pleased to see them considered here on the floor today.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Trott), a member of the Financial Services Committee and the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Poliquin), a member of the Financial Services Committee.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4292) to reform the living will process under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 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 to include extraneous material on the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, the living wills process, as mandated under the Dodd- Frank Act for systemically important financial institutions and designated nonbank financial companies, has become a heavily burdensome process for the institutions subjected to it.

Section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires bank holding companies with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more to annually submit detailed plans to the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that describe the company's strategy for rapid and orderly resolution under the Bankruptcy Code in the event of its material financial distress or failure.

The Federal Reserve and the FDIC have near total discretion in deciding whether a plan is acceptable, and, therefore, whether an institution will be subject to heavy penalties.

Mr. Zeldin's legislation, the Financial Institution Living Will Improvement Act, will do just that: improve the regulatory process for both sides of the living will assessment. This bipartisan legislation will provide needed change by limiting the frequency of the living wills process to a 2-year cycle, requiring regulators to publicly disclose the framework used to be able to review resolution plans, and requiring feedback on resolution plans within 6 months of the date they were submitted.

Mr. Speaker, the regulators themselves--members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the FDIC--have suggested before Congress that reforms should be made to the living wills process. Recognition from those running the process that the living wills framework needs to be reformed demonstrates the necessity of Mr. Zeldin's bill.

Mr. Zeldin's legislation, which was voted out of the Financial Services Committee unanimously, takes steps toward effectiveness and efficiency in this process, and I urge my colleagues to support this measure here today.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin), a member of the Financial Services Committee and the sponsor of the legislation.

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

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