The panel later this month will vote on the nomination of Judy Shelton, whose views on certain policy issues have met with skepticism from both Democrats and Republicans.
The lawmakers argued in a letter to the Federal Reserve that suspending dividend payouts would be the "prudent course of action," allowing banks to build their capital cushions and continue lending during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to change the definition of what constitutes a qualified mortgage from a 43% debt-to-income limit to a price-based threshold, and further extend a temporary exemption given to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Sens. Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren are asking three federal agencies to reverse changes that allow banks to exclude certain items from their supplementary leverage ratio.
The congressional showdown over the pace of rulemaking during the pandemic is a hardening of older positions on banking policy ahead of the 2020 elections, observers said.
If Democrats retake both the White House and Senate in the 2020 election, analysts see threats to the industry from the appointment of new regulators and possible reversal of Trump-era deregulation. But legislation imposing new rules on financial institutions would face long odds.
Millions of Americans have yet to receive their stimulus checks, leading progressives to demand reforms improving underbanked consumers’ access to the financial system.
As special IG for the Treasury’s allocation of $500 billion in aid, Brian Miller could look into funding for Fed credit facilities. But Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee questioned his independence.
As banks accept new applications for the paycheck program, they are dogged by complaints that they prioritized wealthy borrowers. But lenders likely fast-tracked clients they knew best under difficult circumstances, observers say.