The U.S. House Appropriations Committee released its 2019 funding bill for financial services-related items May 23. The bill includes provisions that would make the Federal Reserve the lead agency on Volcker rule matters and subject the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to appropriations.
The $23.4 billion bill includes legislation from Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., that would elevate the Fed as the lead interpreter of the Dodd-Frank rule limiting proprietary trading. Under the proposal, the other regulators involved with Volcker oversight would serve in an advisory role to the Fed.
The bill would also implement a number of controls on the CFPB by subjecting the agency to congressional appropriations. It would require the agency to install its own inspector general and allow the executive branch to remove the director at-will.
The appropriations bill includes other regulatory tweaks, such as requiring the Fed to adjust its standards for foreign financial companies to "ensure that companies with comparable risk profiles and business models are operating under a similar set of requirements." The bill also includes the Financial Stability Oversight Council Improvement Act, which tightens the process by which the FSOC designates a nonbank financial company as systemically important.
The legislation will be a draft for negotiation as Congress approaches the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
