In an interview with Politico today, Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee chairman John Boozman (R-Ark.) said that he plans to continue seeking bipartisan support to pass meaningful regulatory relief — a key part of ABA’s Agenda for America’s Hometown Banks — following an unsuccessful effort in 2015 led by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). Boozman said the subcommittee has been working closely with Shelby to determine what regulatory relief provisions to include in this year’s appropriations bill, but noted that “we’re not going to stick the entire banking bill in or anything like that.”
As the subcommittee continues to search for ways to ease the regulatory burden of Dodd-Frank, Boozman acknowledged that finding harmony with Democrats continues to be a challenge. “[T]here’s a lot of comments about how we need to protect our community banks,” he said, “but when it comes down to voting, it’s really difficult to get those votes.”
