by: Peter Schroeder

The House Financial Services Committee advanced a package of 11 bills aimed at housing and financial regulators, many with broad bipartisan margins.

While some of the bills even passed unanimously, the discussion surrounding the measures showed there remains deep-seated concerns between the two parties about the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and how far to go in revisiting it.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) billed the measures as providing critical relief to smaller banks and credit unions struggling under the weight of new financial regulations.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that community banks and credit unions are withering on the vine,” he said. “The sheer weight, volume, cost, complexity and uncertainty of federal regulation is a burden that is killing them off.”

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