The Senate today voted 53-44 to approve a resolution of disapproval seeking to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final rule implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires the collection and reporting of credit application data for small businesses, including women-owned and minority-owned small businesses. The legislation passed with Republicans and a few Democrats and independents voting in favor of it.
S.J. Res. 32 by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.)—which is supported by the American Bankers Association—would need to be approved by both houses of Congress and signed by the president to overturn the rule. An identical resolution has been introduced in the House and has passed out of committee. President Biden is expected to veto the legislation.
In a September statement in support of the resolution, ABA said that banks support complying with the nation’s fair lending laws, but the enormity of data points to be collected under the rule, and the 100-loan threshold for determining which lenders must report, would place a significant burden on banks. “We are concerned that the costs associated with collecting the data and the anticipated reliance on statistical manipulation in fair lending supervision and enforcement will discourage bank lending to small businesses, particularly by community and midsize banks, and we strongly urge Congress to advance S.J. Res. 32 as soon as possible,” the association said.
