Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and 27 other members of Congress sent a letter to the heads of the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on October 8, urging them to work with civil rights and community groups to strengthen the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).
The letter notes that the CRA has helped increase access to banking and credit for low-income communities as well as combat the country’s history of housing discrimination and disinvestment in communities of color. In August 2018, the OCC released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to gather recommendations on CRA reform. Many of the 1,500 comments received emphasized the importance of the CRA’s original purpose to support low- and moderate-income individuals and neighborhoods. To ensure the CRA continues to fulfill this purpose, the letter encourages the regulators to work with stakeholders, particularly civil rights groups and organizations representing communities most directly impacted, on any CRA changes. The lawmakers also request the OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve to brief the House Committee on Financial Services and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – which oversee these agencies – on proposed reforms before continuing with the regulatory process.
Read the full letter at: https://tinyurl.com/y5prrtlv