Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9506300064
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The Consumers Union called the bill a ``hodgepodge of consumer law rollbacks.'' Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said the latest version of the bill was ``strongly objectionable'' and said he would recommend that President Clinton veto the measure.
Joe Pigg, a staff member for Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb., the bill's main author, accused Rubin of making an ``alarmist overstatement'' about the bill's impact and said it wasn't anti-consumer. Bereuter has said the bill aims to trim a thicket of regulations which emerged in the 1970s and 1980s that may not be relevant today.
The panel voted 27-23 to send the bill to the House floor. The vote concluded four contentious days of work on more than 90 amendments, which kept the committee working until midnight twice this week..
Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, the House Banking Committee chairman, issued a statement saying the bill's prospects were uncertain on the House floor, chiefly due to its insurance provisions.
In a surprise twist, the panel approved an amendment Wednesday to let banks affiliate with insurance companies, subject to state law. That would dramatically expand banks' reach in the financial services business, especially if Congress also approves a separate bill to let banks combine with Wall Street firms.
This amendment riled a potent opponent that has killed previous bank reform bills: the insurance lobby. The Independent Insurance Agents of America said it will fight the measure because independent insurance agents would be placed at a ``severe competitive disadvantage.''
Changes to the bill were so substantial that the banking industry's main trade group, the American Bankers Association, wasn't ready to take a position on the measure because of conflicting insurance language.
Consumers and the administration won several battles to change the bill's more controversial provisions. The latest version would:
No longer prevent the Justice Department from initiating lending discrimination cases under the Fair Housing Act, a major tool for policing unfair banking practices.
Retain the current $50 limit that consumers may pay for misuse or irresponsible handling of their credit cards or ATM cards. The original bill would have raised the limit to $500.
Rubin said the bill would cripple the Community Reinvestment Act, a key federal law requiring banks to lend in communities where they take deposits. It contains a series of exemptions for small banks that would exclude about 90 percent of the industry from the law's requirements and would limit regulators' enforcement powers, the panel's Democrats said.
by CNB