Independent Banker - July 2018 - 29

was later enhanced and expanded following the
2016 election, put forth a flexible set of legislative
priorities designed to support bipartisan congressional
advancement.
ICBA strategically introduced the Plan for
Prosperity as a robust platform of specific policy
recommendations-rather than a large piece
of legislation that lawmakers could cherry-pick
reasons to oppose. Having this detailed menu of
relief improved its chances of proceeding through
a challenging and highly partisan Congress.
ICBA successfully teed up many of these
policies over the years in bills such as House
Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling's
(R-Texas) Financial CHOICE Act, and
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) and Sen. Jerry
Moran's (R-Kan.) CLEAR Relief Act. While these
measures often passed through the House only
to be held up in the Senate, they helped form the
basis of what would ultimately become S.2155.
Taking it to Washington
ICBA recognized early on how the 115th Congress
and the Trump administration offered new
opportunities to fully realize the regulatory relief
policies that had been denied final passage. And
we took full advantage. ICBA community bankers
met in April 2017 with Treasury secretary Steven
Mnuchin and staff at the Treasury Department to
lay out a detailed case of how community bank
overregulation was hurting the industry and the
customers and communities it serves. ICBA offered
the Treasury its Plan for Prosperity as a solution.
That was quickly followed by a historic meeting of
100 ICBA leadership bankers at the White House
during the 2017 ICBA Capital Summit and the
release of ICBA's Roadmap to Economic Growth
and Prosperity, a comprehensive white paper
complementing the Plan for Prosperity.
The summer of 2017 was marked by a rapid
succession of activity on this front. On the very
day that then-ICBA chairman Scott Heitkamp
testified before the Senate Banking Committee
on fostering economic growth through regulatory
relief, the House passed Hensarling's Financial
CHOICE Act on a largely partisan vote. The following
week, the Treasury Department issued
a report advocating targeted community bank
relief with numerous ICBA-advocated provisions.
The next month, ICBA Policy Development
Committee chairman Robert Fisher testified on
behalf of community bank relief before the House
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and
Consumer Credit. ICBA and community bankers
were hammering Washington on regulatory relief
from all angles, and the momentum for reform
was building.
With a difficult 60-vote hurdle needed to clear
legislation through the Senate, ICBA focused on
key senators who would help the community bank
cause. The rubber would hit the road in the offices
of the Senate Banking Committee, where Crapo
and moderate Democrats worked to craft a deal
that would garner bipartisan support and have a
good chance at final passage. To grease the skids,
ICBA submitted to the panel a petition in September
with more than 10,000 signatures from
community bank employees and advocates urging
legislative action on the Plan for Prosperity.
In November, 18 bipartisan senators, led by
chairman Crapo and several committee Democrats,
announced a legislative agreement on
community bank relief. It would be formally
introduced in the Senate the following month
as the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and
Consumer Protection Act (S.2155).
Going grassroots
With a bill introduced, it was time to build bipartisan
support through every available channel.
ICBA quickly launched grassroots efforts on
behalf of S.2155, which soon passed the Senate
Banking Committee in December on a bipartisan
vote of 16-7. Following a comprehensive campaign
of calls, tweets, radio and print ads, more
than 10,000 messages to lawmakers and a slew
of community banker op-eds from Baltimore to
Santa Fe, the bill passed the full Senate in April
in a bipartisan vote.
Quick stat
258-159
The final House
vote on S.2155
ICBA worked to ensure the Senate vote on
S.2155 would survive multiple filibusters, more
than 100 amendments and nearly two weeks of
Senate floor debate-where several powerful senators
were trying their hardest to bring it down.
The Senate vote, with its supermajority threshold,
was a considerable hurdle-one that has crushed
many regulatory relief attempts in the past. But
the grassroots prevailed, and the Senate passed
S.2155 with a 67-31 vote.
House passage immediately presented its
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Independent Banker - July 2018

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