With Senate debate on financial regulatory reform continuing this week, the U.S. Chamber is weighing in on some of the more than 205 amendments that have been offered to the bill thus far, reminding senators that small businesses must be protected from broad, one-size-fits all regulations.

Deletion of $50 Billion Pre-Paid Fund. The Chamber supported efforts to remove a $50 billion dollar pre-paid fund for the Resolution Authority section of the bill. This pre-paid bank fund would have created a new tax on businesses, among other things. The amendment removing the fund passed by a vote of 93-5.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The Chamber supported a substitute amendment that would have appropriately narrowed the scope of CFPB’s authority to financial institutions and any entities with a history of engaging in fraudulent or predatory practices. In addition, the measure would require that CFPB’s structure be consistent with that of other federal regulatory agencies. The substitute amendment failed.

Fed oversight. The Chamber supported an amendment to preserve Federal Reserve Board oversight of state member banks and smaller holding companies. The financial regulatory reform bill would focus the attention of the Federal Reserve on just the largest institutions. “Smaller banks tend to fund smaller businesses, which is an important source of jobs for the economy. Removing Federal Reserve supervision of community banks could mean that the Federal Reserve would lose timely information about the flow of credit to small businesses,” the Chamber said in a May 7 letter to senators.

Size limits for financial companies. The Chamber opposed an amendment that would have imposed new limits on the size and scope of financial companies, arguing that such caps would place U.S. financial institutions at a competitive disadvantage and make it more difficult for businesses to raise the capital needed to expand and create jobs. The Senate rejected Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) amendment by a vote of 61-33.

Credit reporting. The Chamber opposed an amendment that would require the three national credit reporting agencies to provide credit scores to consumers without compensation. That amendment would “set a harmful precedent that the government could require businesses to provide for free the products and services for which they hold proprietary ownership or licenses and have invested millions of dollars to develop,” according to the Chamber.

Payment disclosures by energy companies. The Chamber opposed an amendment that would require companies in the oil, natural gas, and minerals industries to disclose payments made to foreign governments. The Chamber argued that this provision would unfairly disadvantage U.S.-based companies by giving non-U.S. competitors—who are not required to disclose payments to host countries—access to confidential, proprietary information that could be used against U.S.-based companies.

Anti-arbitration. The Chamber and members of the Coalition to Preserve Arbitration opposed two amendments that would harm consumers and investors by weakening arbitration practices within the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the SEC.

Securities litigation. The Chamber opposed an amendment that would drastically expand the reach of private securities litigation and expose even wholly innocent parties to enormously expensive lawsuits based on their mere failure to discover the fraud of another party, the Chamber noted.

Read the letters in full at www.uschamber.com/issues/letters.