COMMUNITY BANKS, VOLCKER RULE:

Voting 300 for and 104 against, the House on April 13 passed a bill (HR 4790) that would exempt most of the nation’s 6,000 smaller “community” banks from the so-called Volcker Rule, which is designed, in part, to prohibit banks from making risky investments that could endanger their solvency and the financial system. A part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financiallaw, the rule bars short-term trading by banks in instruments including stocks, derivatives and commodity futures. Community banks are loosely defined as depository institutions with less than $10 billion in assets. The bill also would give the Federal Reserve exclusive rulemaking authority over the Volcker Rule.

Ken Buck, R-Colo., said the bill is needed because “community banks are suffering under an unbearable regulatory burden. And when our community banks suffer, our small towns and rural communities suffer also.”

Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said the rule “prohibits banks from engaging in risky trading activities that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. Simply put, it prevents banks from acting like casinos and gambling with our money.”

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

ARKANSAS

Voting yes: Bruce Westerman, R-4

TEXAS

Voting yes: Louie Gohmert, R-1, John Ratcliffe, R-4