Claire Williams

House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., led a group of Democrats in challenging Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the current state of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is laying off more than 1,400 employees just days after a panel of judges said the bureau couldn't fire employees without an assessment of whether the workers are unnecessary to perform the bureau's legally mandated duties.

The firing of National Credit Union Administration board members further erodes the political independence of bank regulators, experts say, in a way that could trickle up to the Federal Reserve.

President Donald Trump has ousted Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka, Democratic board members of the National Credit Union Administration, before the end of their Senate-confirmed terms in the latest example of bipartisan regulator boards being undermined in Washington.

A bill being introduced by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., would compel the Federal Home Loan Bank System to contribute 30%, or a minimum of $200 million, of each bank's net earnings into affordable housing or other community development programs.

Federal Reserve Gov. Michelle Bowman, who has been nominated to be the central bank's top regulator, sidestepped direct questions about the Trump administration's incursion into the Fed's regulatory independence.

Federal Reserve Gov. Michelle Bowman will go before the Senate Banking Committee Thursday for her confirmation hearing to be the next vice chair for supervision at the central bank.

House Financial Services Committee member Andy Barr, R-Ky., will introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution to nullify the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's merger rule that went into effect in January.

Congressional Review Act resolutions to nullify the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's overdraft and larger participant rules now go to President Trump for his signature.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott said Jonathan McKernan's final confirmation vote to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is "imminent."

As President Donald Trump's tariffs whipsaw bank shares and threaten recession, the House Financial Services Committee chairman told a large room of bankers that efforts like repealing the small business data collection rule and passing legislation to Congressionally appropriate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are among his priorities.

Bankers are growing frustrated as President Donald Trump's trade policy causes turmoil in markets and confusion for clients. But banking trade groups in Washington — at least publicly — are remaining silent.

Jonathan Gould, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, passed through the Senate Banking Committee on a party-line 13 to 11 vote.

Democratic lawmakers turned the stablecoin markup into a marathon event, leading off with amendments that would have addressed concerns about conflicts of interest between elected officials like President Donald Trump and stablecoin oversight.

House Republicans, led by House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., outlined their priorities for the Trump administration's banking agenda in a series of letters to key regulators.

The Treasury Department told the OMB that all 11 programs in the CDFI Fund are statutorily mandated. The White House said "no final decisions have been made" about the programs.

The Senate Banking Committee considered the nomination of Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose track record on deregulation in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis was questioned by Democratic lawmakers. Lawmakers also considered the nomination of Jonathan Gould to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Luke Pettit for a key bank regulatory role at Treasury.

The Senate voted 52-48 to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule that would cap overdraft fees at many banks at $5.

The Senate Banking Committee will consider the nominations of Jonathan Gould to lead to Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission and Luke Pettit as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Thursday morning.

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., who chairs the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, called the CFPB under the Biden administration and former Director Rohit Chopra an "Orwellian predator."