In the News

U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman was the only member of the Arkansas congressional delegation to vote against the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that passed the House on Wednesday. U.S. Reps. Steve Womack, Rick Crawford and French Hill all supported the legislation, which will keep the government funded through September. Womack, who serves on the House appropriations committee, called the spending package a "reasonable, though not perfect, compromise." The Republican from Rogers said he was pleas... Read more

House Financial Services Committee Republicans May 3 turned aside several Democratic attempts to preserve the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s power, while considering a wide-ranging Dodd-Frank overhaul bill that would limit the bureau’s authority. Committee Democrats further dragged out preliminary steps to advance the legislation, offering amendments later in the day that would require analysis of President Donald Trump’s tax returns and whether he stands to benefit from its passage. Pan... Read more

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fair Access to Investment Research Act this week, legislation that would ease the way for brokers and dealers to share research with potential clients about an increasingly popular type of investment. Read more

Jim Jordan, House Freedom Caucus founder, says he hopes Congress will vote on health care this week and that President Trump resonates because he has conservative principles with populist tones. Prior to that, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Ira Jersey says the Fed wants to shrink the balance sheet. Eswar Prasad, a professor at Cornell University, says China could be doing more about North Korea because it’s North Korea’s economic lifeline. Arkansas Congressman French Hill discusses the health-care vot... Read more

The U.S. House approved a bill that would direct the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to provide a safe harbor for research reports that cover exchange traded funds (ETFs). The Fair Access to Investment Research Act (H.R. 910) addresses anomalies in securities laws and regulations that discourage broker-dealers from publishing research on ETFs. It was sponsored by U.S. Reps. French Hill (R-AR) and Bill Foster (D-IL). Since they were introduced in the 1990s, ETFs have grown to over 1,500 ... Read more

More than 200 supermarket industry CEOs and senior executives from nearly every state have converged on Capitol Hill to discuss federal policies affecting their businesses at the annual Day in Washington fly-in. Members of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the National Grocers Association (NGA), and the Food Industry Association Executives (FIAE) sat down with legislators to talk about tougher market competition, the transparency made possible by debit swipe fee reform, and tax code reforms th... Read more

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would reduce obstacles to research on exchange traded funds and registered investment companies. “As the ETF market continues to grow, this bill's common sense clarifications will allow broker/dealers to produce more research on ETFs, providing consumers with greater access to information and fueling capital formation and job creation,” said Kenneth Bentsen Jr., president and CEO of SIFMA, in a statement. The Fair Access to Investment Research... Read more

As the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday began to mark up Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s Dodd-Frank replacement legislation, community banks took the spotlight. The Texas Republican has pitched his legislation as an end to taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street banks and an unshackling effect on small banks strapped by compliance costs. Democratic lawmakers said small bank relief from post-crisis regulations that make more sense for larger institutions could have attracted their support. But th... Read more

The American Conservative Union on Monday honored five of the six members of the all-Republican Arkansas congressional delegation for their work in 2016, saying they consistently voted the right way last year. U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs had the highest ratings, and he showed up for the event. He said he was honored to be recognized. "ACU's a great organization. It's kind of the standard on conservative politics," he said afterward. Westerman had portrayed himself as someone who wou... Read more

House lawmakers on Tuesday postponed voting on changes to a sweeping GOP bill to kill Obama-era financial regulations after Democrats worked to obstruct advancement of the plan they claimed would harm Americans and rescue Wall Street. Throughout a seven-hour House Financial Service Committee hearing, Democrats repeatedly tried to stonewall efforts by Republicans to advance a bill by committee chairman Jeb Hensarling, to the House floor. New York Democrat Carolyn Maloney triggered a congressional... Read more