The current and incoming chairmen of the House Financial Services Committee sent letters to financial regulatory agencies within the Biden administration warning them about last-minute “finalizing partisan rulemakings” ahead of the arrival of the Trump administration.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), the current chairman, and his Rep. French Hill (R-AR), who will succeed him in January, sent their letters to the leadership at the Departments of the Treasury and Housing and Urban Development and to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
“The Congressional Review Act (CRA) authorizes Congress to disapprove rulemakings, including those finalized toward the end of the Congress,” the lawmakers wrote, adding they called on the agencies to “preserve all existing and future documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may potentially be responsive to a congressional inquiry, request, investigation, or subpoena that may be initiated or otherwise undertaken by a committee of Congress or any other investigative entity.”
The letters also included reminders to the agencies’ leaders regarding outstanding requests by the committee that were not addressed during the 118th Congress.
The Biden administration has been hustling to get rules in place and spending allocated prior to its departure from the White House on Jan. 20. Indeed, its actions have become so obvious that USA Today covered its machinations with the article titled “How President Biden is trying to Trump-proof his legacy.”
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