An Open Letter to Congress: Community Banks Focused on Achievable Bipartisan Solutions

By Rebeca Romero Rainey, President and CEO
Independent Community Bankers of America

Dear Members of the 116^th Congress:

Happy New Year and thank you for your continued service to our nation. With a tight legislative session ahead of this fall's presidential election, the nation's community bankers are zeroing in on top-priority legislative initiatives that already boast bipartisan support.

With a proven track record of common-sense legislative achievements that benefit Main Street consumers, small businesses, farmers and ranchers, we remain committed to pragmatic legislative solutions that will build on recent successes and expand the reach of our nation's economic prosperity to every urban, suburban and rural community we serve. With your support, we can achieve this by:

Modernizing the Bank Secrecy Act and finalizing House-passed (H.R. 2513/2514) and Senate-introduced (S. 2563) legislation addressing the Customer Due Diligence Rule to improve efforts against terrorism and illegal activities.
Completing House-passed legislation (H.R. 1595/S. 1200) establishing a cannabis-banking safe harbor to address compliance concerns while improving public safety and industry transparency.
Advancing bipartisan legislation (S. 2839) to close the loophole allowing industrial loan companies to skirt regulatory oversight and violate the separation of banking and commerce.
Urging policymakers to “Wake Up” to the risky practices, costly tax subsidies, and irresponsibly lax oversight of the nation’s credit unions and Farm Credit System.

With each congressional district home to at least one of the nation’s more than 50,000 community bank locations, it’s easy to see why these important legislative reforms offer common ground for lawmakers of all political perspectives.

ICBA and community bankers look forward to continuing our work with the 116^th Congress to help our nation flourish—one community, one customer at a time.

Download the letter