Mike Crapo

Numerous business sectors are urging lawmakers to act quickly to extend the National Flood Insurance Program before a crucial deadline next week.

The White House and congressional GOP leaders are eyeing a tight window between tax reform passage and the 2018 midterms to pass housing finance reform. And with key policymakers readying their exit, the effort could be the most concerted push yet.

The regulatory relief bill would raise the SIFI threshold to $250 billion of assets and allow mortgages held in portfolio to be counted as "qualified," among other items, but it is far less sweeping than institutions had hoped.

Fed Gov. Jerome Powell, who was first nominated to the central bank by former President Obama, is widely seen as a continuity choice.

Congress may soon try to limit the personal identifiable information that companies and the government can collect on consumers based on their reaction to the massive data breach at Equifax.

Equifax observed an increasingly well-worn ritual of scandal-ridden firms by jettisoning CEO Richard Smith: apologize, promise to do better in the future, and sacrifice your top executive in the hopes it will ward off action by Congress and regulators.

Democrats have strived to paint recent scandals at Wells Fargo and Equifax as prime examples of why a regulatory rule banning mandatory arbitration agreements should be upheld, but Republicans are not wavering in their campaign to overturn it.

The hearings before the Senate Banking Committee have high stakes for both companies, as lawmakers are expected to ask the CEOs whether they should be fired.

Lawmakers like Sen. Tim Scott may feel differently about some elements in a Senate regulatory relief bill depending on whether CFPB Director Cordray is remaining in office until his term expires in July.

A mishmash of lawmakers from different parties and committees are wading into the aftermath of Equifax’s megabreach, with some using it to advance their policy agendas while others are calling for possible criminal prosecution.

The House voted 231 to 190 on Tuesday to nullify the CFPB's rule banning mandatory arbitration clauses, but the outcome in Senate is unclear.

House and Senate lawmakers formally filed resolutions on Thursday to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's arbitration rule, but there were early signs that enacting them may prove challenging.

Both parties appear interested in a deal on housing finance reform, but tough fights are ahead.

The Senate is set to begin teeing up housing finance reform discussions at a Banking Committee hearing on Thursday, but many are skeptical that Congress will be able to succeed where it has failed in the past.

Federal regulators supported several changes the banking industry has been seeking in an appearance before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, acknowledging the need to limit the Volcker Rule and better define systemically important banks.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo sounded optimistic Thursday about reaching a bipartisan deal for regulatory relief, but a hearing once again emphasized the gulf between what lawmakers are likely to pass and what the industry is seeking.

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, welcomed Treasury Department recommendations on how to reform financial regulations and expressed optimism that many of the suggestions could become law.

Senators on both sides of the aisle paid lip service Thursday to giving relief to community banks and credit unions, but didn't appear closer to specifics of what would be in a bill.

While a House bill expected to be passed this week has little chance in the Senate, some of its individual provisions could be enacted by Congress, including one aimed at banks' systemic threshold.

FHFA Director Mel Watt warned Thursday that to prevent a potential draw on the Treasury Department by the government-sponsored enterprises, he is willing to act unilaterally to rebuild capital at Fannie and Freddie.