Washington, D.C. (December 17, 2025) | – Rep. Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) issued the following statement after the House Committee on Financial Services passed three of his bills, The New BANK Act (H.R. 6551), the American FIRST Act (H.R. 6550), and the Respect State Housing Laws Act (H.R. 1078).
“Continuing my longstanding commitment to Georgian’s freedom to choose between a broad array of financial institutions, and to have those institutions free from foreign influence, I introduced the New BANK Act and the American FIRST Act. These bills, which have just passed the House Committee on Financial Services, will help protect a competitive banking market that places Americans first.
“During the Covid pandemic, Congress passed legislation that included a provision which overrides state eviction-notice laws. This federal regulation was supposed to provide a singular grace period during the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act eviction moratorium, which has since ended, but a drafting error caused the provision to remain in place permanently. This federal overreach has negatively affected Georgians, especially veterans, retirees, and families who depend on rental income to make ends meet. My Respect State Housing Laws Act, which has passed the House Committee on Financial Services, will remove the federal government from these proceedings and return housing policies back to the states, where they belong.”
Background
New BANK Act:
– Strengthen accountability and improve clarity in how federal banking regulators operate by requiring annual reports on the bank charter application process.
– Congress will be more equipped to detect inefficiency and favoritism in the banking sector, in the interest of providing the American borrower with a multitude of fair options across national banks, state banks, and credit unions.
American FIRST Act:
– Increase transparency, accountability, and congressional oversight of U.S. regulators’ involvement in global standard-setting bodies.
– Require the annual reporting of interactions between federal banking supervisory agencies and global financial regulatory or supervisory forums.
– This legislation is necessary, as recent international regulatory regimes have threatened the independence of the American banking sector.
Respect State Housing Laws Act:
– Give property owners clarity and the tools they need to deal with bad intentioned tenants who have taken advantage of this flaw in federal law.
– Federally mandated timetable derived from the CARES Act, eviction proceedings are often elevated to the federal court level, where the courts are wholly unequipped to hear local level proceedings, dragging out the judicial process. This will return them to the states.