U.S. Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) said Aug. 8 he plans to introduce legislation that would make permanent Trump’s executive order guaranteeing free and fair access to banking for all Americans, regardless of their political beliefs.
“From Operation Chokepoint under the Obama-Biden administration to recent examples of religious groups, firearms manufacturers, and even energy companies being debanked, the American people have had enough of woke discrimination from Wall Street and weaponized regulators,” Rep. Barr said in a statement on Friday. “President Trump’s bold executive action is a major step forward — and now we’re going to make sure it becomes law.”
The executive order, signed by Trump on Aug. 7, takes aim at the financial institutions that have engaged in unacceptable practices to restrict individuals’ and businesses’ access to financial services on the basis of political or religious beliefs or lawful business activities, the order states.
Rep. Barr said the order echoes legislation he introduced this Congress, including the Fair Access to Banking Act, H.R. 987, which would place restrictions on certain banks, credit unions, and payment card networks if they refuse to do business with a person who complies with the law, and the Financial Integrity and Regulation Management (FIRM) Act, H.R. 2702, which would curtail the political weaponization of federal banking agencies by eliminating reputational risk as a component of the supervision of depository institutions.
“President Trump’s executive order holds banks accountable for discriminating against conservatives and crypto through fines and other consequences for lenders that deny service to conservatives or customers due to their political affiliations or protected beliefs,” said U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA). “This political discrimination … is unlawful, dishonest, and decreases trust in our banking institutions.”
Rep. Scalise also said that the executive order improves the supervisory process by stopping unelected regulators from using reputational risk as a component of financial supervision and as a tool to target those who don’t align with their political agenda.
“Banks should be assessing legitimate financial risk, not the political views of hard-working and lawful individuals or businesses,” he said. “I’m grateful to Congressman Andy Barr for leading the effort to codify the president’s executive order in the House and fighting to ensure every American gets a fair shake at the bank regardless of their political views.”
The NRA-ILA, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the Solana Policy Institute, the Blockchain Association, and the National Pawnbrokers Association support Rep. Barr’s effort to codify the executive order.