Last week, more than 120 Texans stepped up to take the voice of community banking to Capitol Hill. In total, IBAT members met with 28 members or staff of the Texas Congressional delegation, as well Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and eight members of the House Financial Services Committee, including Vice Chairman French Hill (R-AR), Andy Barr (R- KY) and Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO).
The message of community bankers was clear: regulatory overreach is smothering community banks, to the detriment of our local, State and national economies.
“Regulators have issued more than 5,000 pages of new regulations in the last six months alone,” said ICBA Senior Executive Vice President of Government Relations Anne Balcer in comments to the IBAT delegation. “Lawmakers need to understand the real-world impact of the regulators’ actions. The time, effort and resources that you use to adapt to these rules means fewer loans being made and less benefit extended to your customers.”
“IBAT and ICBA are locked in on the fight,” said IBAT President and CEO Christopher Williston. “Last week, it was proven once again, that nothing is more valuable than having bankers tell their stories.” IBAT will return to Washington D.C. April 28 – May 1 with representatives from states around the country as part of the ICBA Capital Summit. For more information, please visit the ICBA website.
