Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mike
Crapo (R-ID) and John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced legislation to place certain
limits on the Federal government’s Operation Choke Point. S. 2790, the
Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2016 is a companion bill
to H.R. 766 introduced by Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer
(R-MO), which passed the House in February. We sent the Senators a letter in support of their legislation.
The
legislation would limit Federal banking regulators’ ability to discourage or
restrict depository institutions from entering into or maintaining a financial
services relationship with specific customers unless certain criteria are
met. The legislation would also limit
regulators’ ability to pressure financial institutions to terminate customer
accounts, requiring regulators to have a material reason for termination that
is not based solely on the reputational risk posed by the customer before
pressuring the financial institution to close the account.
Credit unions are committed to maintaining the ability to
serve their members while strictly following all laws and governing regulations. We believe that S. 2790 is a reasonable approach to preventing fraud and maintaining financial
integrity, without overreaching.