Debanking or blocking individuals and firms from the banking system was a nefarious activity pursued by the Biden administration. It has been widely reported that too frequently, businesses and individuals who were associated with crypto activity, or out-of-favor individuals, were debanked – their bank told them they would no longer do business with them.
The allegation is that federal regulators pushed banks to block businesses to unsavory or politically disfavored users – or else. The banks, worried about the power of regulators, complied.
Senator Tim Scott, the new Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has introduced the Financial Integrity and Regulation Management Act, or FIRM Act, to halt this practice once and for all.
The language of the bill explains:
“all federally legal businesses and law-abiding citizens, regardless of political ideology,y should have equal opportunity to obtain financial services and should not face unlawful discrimination in ob9 obtaining such services.”
The language is pretty straightforward as it seeks to remove a political agenda for bank decisioning.
All of the Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee have endorsed the bill. These Senators include: Mike Crapo, Mike Rounds, Thom Tillis, John Kennedy, Bill Hagerty, Cynthia Lummis, Katie Britt, Pete Ricketts, Jim Banks, Kevin Cramer, Bernie Moreno, and Dave McCormick.
It is not clear if any Democrats will co-sponsor the legislation.
Senator Scott has posted a quick explanation of the legislation that if signed into law will remove the ability of banks to discriminate against certain individuals and firms who are not engaged in illicit activities.
