Views from Washington, D.C. Monitoring Regulations,
Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer
2021 has been a change of pace for Missourians in several ways. Life here in our state has largely gone back to normal as businesses get back to serving their communities. Te White House also changed hands, and a new administration means new rules to navigate. My biggest job this Congress has been monitoring President Biden and this administration’s regulations and pushing back when necessary. My fear that he would resort to Obama-era regulation was not only realized, but he has unfortunately taken overregulation even farther.
In addition to my role as the top Republican on the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions, I was elected to serve as the top Republican on the House Committee on Small Business. In both capacities, keeping track of the pandemic relief programs for businesses in our country and holding the Treasury Department and
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SBA accountable have been a full-time job. Despite the law requiring her to appear before the Small Business Committee by mid-April, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen refused to appear before the committee to discuss the Paycheck Protection Program, which the CARES Act made a Treasury program. Te fact that a cabinet member is actively breaking the law is absolutely unacceptable and something I have been calling attention to for months. When she appeared before the Financial Services Committee in November, I asked the secretary if administration officials should be held to the same standards as the American people when they break the law, to which she said yes. However, when I asked why she believes she doesn’t have to follow the law, she refused to give a reasonable explanation or commit to fulfilling her legal obligations.
Another major item on my punch list this year has been keeping tabs on the radical slate of regulators Biden has chosen. A shiſt in ideology is expected with a new administration, but some of the choices to lead our nation’s regulatory agencies have been unnerving, to put it lightly. Perhaps the most radical nominee I have seen during my time in Congress was Saule Omarova, who was nominated to the comptroller of the currency. Fortunately, her nomination was pulled, but that does not change the fact that she was the White House’s first pick.
Te latest from the Biden administration is that former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray is being considered for vice chair of supervision at the Federal Reserve. For those who remember the Cordray- era at CFPB, it was largely based on regulation through
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