Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., will introduce companion legislation to a key part of House Republicans' bank deregulatory push, according to a copy of the bill obtained by American Banker. Britt will introduce a version of the TIER Act today, which would index bank regulatory thresholds to economic growth. The bill would tether bank regulatory thresholds to economic growth, raising the thresholds as the economy expands.
Britt's bill differs from the House version in a few ways. While both bills would periodically adjust some regulatory thresholds over time to the economy's growth, Britt's bill includes a one-time adjustment upon enactment. Britt's bill would also require the Federal Reserve to evaluate whether nominal gross domestic product or the Consumer Price Index is the more appropriate measure for each covered threshold and adjust those thresholds accordingly. Indexing to GDP rather than inflation has also been flagged as a Democratic concern in previous hearings.
The bill is unlikely to win Democratic support or be a priority if Democrats take over the House or Senate next year, but the idea could be a candidate for riders on must-pass legislation. House Financial Services Committee leaders worked with Democrats, specifically on what would be acceptable to them on the tailoring and indexing issues, suggesting this could be an area where they continue to compromise in the next Congress.
What remains unknown is whether the bill will gain traction in the Senate Banking Committee, where most of the focus to date has been on stablecoin and crypto. Democrats are unlikely to prioritize bank deregulatory bills if they win the gavels of either chamber this fall, but there are still opportunities for riders on must-pass bills during the lame duck period between November's elections and the changeover in January.