Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, took to the House Floor to blast S.J. Res. 13, which is a Continuing Resolution Act that would overturn the OCC’s 2024 rule aimed at improving the bank merger application review process.

“I’m so pleased that Mr. Barr from Kentucky referred to me because the big banks hate me and they love him. They support him. They don’t support me. So, let’s see who’s side he’s on. As a matter of fact, he’s here talking about not being in support of big bank mergers because he’s trying so hard to get more community banks. Well, we need more community banks, but he’s a long way from getting what he’s talking about. But the fact is we really do need them because of the big bank mergers. One of the things he could do to increase having community banks that relate to the neighborhoods and relate to the people in the communities is to stop allowing these big mergers to take place. Well let me go on.

I rise to express my opposition to S. J. Res. 13, a Congressional Review Act resolution that would rescind a rule Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has put forth to improve their bank merger application review procedures.

Consumer groups, experts, and I have long rung the alarm bell as the federal government rubber-stamped bank mergers for decades to the detriment of competition. The result has been a growing number of banking deserts where communities lack even one bank branch.

Let’s see what happens after a merger, Mr. Barr. I want you to listen to me. I want you to know what happens after these big bank mergers: they close branches. They close down branches throughout the communities. They lay off the workers. They need less workers and so they start laying them off. They raise interest rates and fees on their customers. We lose relationship banking, community involvement and a personal touch from your neighborhood bank. These big bank mergers come in, and you don’t have tellers anymore. As a matter of fact, when they close down these branches, when you try and get them on the telephone, have you tried to talk with a bank manager on the telephone with these menus that they have? They run you around from so-called extension to extension. You lose all of these relationships.

In fact, while thousands of bank mergers were approved the past few decades, the last bank merger application that regulators denied happened in 2003, 22 years ago.

Meanwhile, community banks have disappeared as the number of banks declined from more than 18,000 in 1990 to fewer than 5,000 today. Meanwhile the biggest banks have grown much bigger through mergers, and not surprisingly are charging consumers more for banking products and services.

For example, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that the largest banks charged between $400 and $500 every year in additional interest compared to smaller community banks and credit unions. In fact, that negative consumer impact is one of the many reasons I and more than 90% of public commenters urged regulators to oppose the recent Capital One and Discover merger, I think you supported that, which created the largest credit card issuer, but the Trump Administration approved it anyway.

And I know you did what Trump wanted you to do.

We already have enough megabanks with too much corporate power. In the mid-1990s, the 20 largest banks held 15 percent of all bank assets; today, they hold more than 65 percent of all bank assets. And the four largest megabanks hold more assets than the next 75 largest banks combined.

Now, these megabanks are just too big to manage. Now take Wells Fargo for example. They grew larger through mergers and then repeatedly violated the law and harmed millions of consumers. It got so bad that the Fed, under former Chair Janet Yellen’s leadership, imposed an asset cap that remains in place to this day.

Now that’s not usually done. You don’t hear Treasury doing that, placing asset caps, but they did that because of the way that Wells Fargo bank had just mismanaged and disregarded its customers.

So, to curb these rubber-stamped mergers, former President Biden issued an executive order to encourage the Department of Justice and the banking agencies, including the OCC, to strengthen their merger reviews, get more information, find out what they intend to do, how they’re going to provide more services – and that’ what President Bident tried to get done with the OCC. Get more information. Don’t just rubberstamp them and let merge and do all of the things I just alluded to.

After going through a public notice and comment process, the OCC – which oversees most large banks, including the four largest commercial banks in the country – published a final rule last year that made several commonsense improvements to its merger review procedures.

First, it eliminated a fast-track procedure where even the largest bank mergers could receive automatic approval of their mergers 15 days after their public notice comment period closed.

Second, the OCC required merger applicants to file the standard merger application to ensure they had enough information to weed out harmful mergers.

And third, the rule provided guidance, something industry often asks for. Specifically, the OCC provided guidance on how they would consider statutory factors when reviewing an application, making the process more transparent.

Rolling back these reforms is dangerous, especially at a time when DOGE is firing staff at the OCC and the other bank agencies, making it harder for them to carefully review these mergers.

Well, I guess Elon Musk didn’t stop with all of the other agencies that they were undermining and firing and laying off. They decided that they would fire staff at the OCC and the other bank agencies, making it harder for them to carefully review these mergers. But what Elon Musk is doing is consistent with what he’s been doing, and I guess what Trump wants him to do. They want less services, they want to make sure that they’re supporting the biggest banks with these mergers. The biggest banks are going to close down the community relationships that we have with community banks.

Moreover, I do not know why Republicans rushed this bad bill to the floor, bypassing a Committee markup. That would have been prudent as I would point out this resolution is actually a giant waste of time, as it would rescind a rule that was already rescinded by the OCC.

You heard me right, President Trump’s Acting Comptroller of the Currency rescinded this very rule last week, when it issued an interim final rule that took effect on May 15th.

But, I’m not surprised that my Republican colleagues weren’t paying attention to this development. Or maybe they were. Just maybe they think that it was something that Trump had said to Elon Musk: ‘go get it done’ – an executive order. But, maybe they felt that this is one of those executive orders that would get ruled out by the courts when we absolutely oppose them.

This bill is only moving because Republicans needed to waste time while they hammer out how best to give $5 trillion in tax breaks to billionaires. They needed more time to figure out if tens of millions of Americans should lose Medicaid, whether millions of children should lose access to food stamps, and just how many consumer watchdogs they should fire at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It doesn’t matter that the U.S. bond ratings were downgraded, that foreign investors are dumping U.S. investments, or that small businesses are struggling to keep their lights on.

No, Republicans are instead rescinding a rule that Trump already rescinded. I tried to give you credit for why he might be doing this, but what you have done is you have just disregarded that. It’s already been done. And you came over to waste some time just to make sure that that executive order perhaps won’t work. And much later tonight, when the rest of America is sleeping, Republicans are going to figure out just how many Americans they can squeeze to pay off their billionaire overlords. Mr. Speaker, this is a bad bill being considered under the worst circumstances. I don’t know why we’re wasting time on this floor. I urge Members to reject this wasteful, harmful, anti-competition bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.”

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