Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Relating to ``Small Business Lending Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B)''

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL. Madam Speaker, of course, I rise in favor of S.J. Res. 32, a joint resolution to disapprove this dumb idea from the CFPB.

I am proud to stand with our chairman of the Small Business Committee who is a humble small business man from Texas.

I know the ranking member of the full committee knows that Mr. Williams, being a humble small business person, knows how to borrow money, knows how to be turned down for a loan, have a loan accepted, and he knows that banks tell him and explain that to him. I am proud to stand here.

I think it is so interesting that I have heard from the opposition today, Madam Speaker, well, this is a voluntary thing.

Well, if it is voluntary, then you should vote for this resolution because it is obviously unnecessary because it is voluntary.

Mr. Meuser makes a very good point, because he says that a sign that a bank has constant small business lending where they don't report because every customer for that bank voluntarily said they don't want to provide that data, it will be a sign of noncompliance. The bank will be out of compliance. They will be in trouble. They will have an exam. They will fail that exam.

This rule, Madam Speaker, is not the right approach.

I have spent 30 years of my 40-year career lending money to small businesses, raising equity capital for small businesses.

We want every loan we can make and the bank made. We are in the business to make loans. We are not in the business to turn down loans. We want them for Black people, White people, LGBTQ people--all people-- banking in our bank, helping us make a profit, helping us serve the community.

This is overdoing bureaucracy. It is applying a set of rules to collect a bunch of data that is not going to make small business loans more affordable or more available in this country. It is not.

Madam Speaker, Republicans are standing here and in the Senate. Democrats in the Senate voted for this resolution. They know this is governmental overreach. It shouldn't be imposed on the private sector. It is going to hurt small business, raise the cost of small business. This body stands on the side of those community lenders and those borrowers who want available capital at a reasonable cost to bring their idea, their dream to life.

So five Democratic Senators joined with Republicans to say: Bad idea, send it back to the drawing board.

We are standing on this side of the aisle asking our friends on the other side of the aisle: Bad idea, send it back to the drawing board.

Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' for this resolution.

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