House Financial Services Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Global Governance
On November 7, the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy held a hearing entitled, “The Tangled Web of Global Governance: How the Biden Administration is Ceding Authority Over American Financial Regulation.” Subcommittee Chairman Andy Barr (R-KY) argued that regulators are using global governance bodies to appear neutral and to push activist policies such as “greening the financial system” and changing capital buffer requirements. While the focus of the hearing was the Basel Committee’s proposal “Basel III Endgame” and U.S. prudential regulators’ proposed adoption and implementation timeline, one witness’s testimony, Bryan Bashur, Director of Financial Policy at Americans for Tax Reform, noted “the Fed’s October 2023 Financial Stability Report admits that the regulator’s approach for assessing climate-related risks is influenced by international organizations.” Republican Members of the House Financial Services Committee have often noted that U.S. regulators, including the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission, increasingly turn to international regulatory bodies as they work through potential new requirements. These Members have expressed concern over this “deference” to international regulators’ initiatives.
Click here to watch an archived video of the November 7 hearing.