The Senate’s passage Wednesday of a spending bill that differs from the House-passed version – which contains a number of regulatory relief provisions – sets the stage for a House-Senate conference on a final package.
The Senate passed its version of the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill on a vote of 92-6 as part of a spending bill package (a “minibus”) containing a total of four spending measures. The Senate bill (H.R. 6147) now heads to a conference with the House over its version, adopted July 19 (on a vote of 217-199, with 15 Republicans and 184 Democrats voting against; no Democrats voted in favor).
The House bill contains a number of regulatory relief provisions that are missing in the Senate version. Among them:
- Increase to two years for the required resolution planning process for banking organizations supervised by the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC);
- Stress test relief for nonbanks that are supervised by trading markets regulators and the Federal Housing Finance Agency;
- Creation of an Office of Independent Examination Review within the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), plus establishment of an independent process for appealing material supervisory findings;
- Creation of an inspector general position within the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection;
- A revision in Volcker Rule requirements regarding some smaller community banks;
- A two-year delay, to Jan. 1, 2021, in the effective date of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) risk-based capital rule for credit unions.