Members on Capitol Hill wrapped up the 118th Congress by narrowly avoiding a government shut down before the holidays and opened up 2025 with the swearing in of the new Congress. December also saw Committees in the House and Senate finish any final business before new Committee leadership takes place in the 119th Congress.
Senate Banking Ends Year Highlighting the Importance of the CFPB
On December 11th, Senate Banking held their final hearing of the year, an oversight hearing of the CFPB. Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown ended his tenure as Chairman focused on the issues that he fought for throughout his Committee leadership, pushing for strong consumer protections and the highlighting the importance of dignity of work. The Chairman highlighted how the CFPB protects workers from fraud and abuse in the financial system and its continued importance over a decade after the passage of Dodd-Frank. Better Markets strongly agrees with the importance of the CFPB’s role in protecting Main Street Americans. Be sure to read our latest Substack on the CFPB here.
118th Congress Comes to and End
On December 20th, the last day before government funding ran out, Congress managed to avert a shutdown and leave town for the final time in the 118th Congress. In addition to funding the government, Congress also passed another Farm Bill extension. The Farm Bill is a critical piece of legislation that expires every five years and sets agriculture policy, including food assistance programs, farm subsidies, and policies covering the commodity markets. The last Farm Bill was passed seven years ago, meaning these policies have yet to be updated to reflect the post-pandemic markets. Additionally, the Agriculture Committees were seemingly more interested in passing an industry friendly crypto bill instead of the critical legislation needed to help farmers. Be sure to read our recent Substack on how crypto derailed the Farm Bill here.
Looking Ahead at the 119th Congress
A new Congress was sworn in on January 3rd and they will have a lot of work to do in 2025. There will also be new Committee leadership in both the House and the Senate. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) will take over as the Chairman of the Banking Committee with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) taking over the Ranking Member position. In addition, there will be four new Democratic Senators on the Committee, Sens. Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Lisa Blunt-Rochester (D-DE), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) have joined the Senate Banking Committee. In the Agriculture Committee, Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) will be the new Committee Chair after serving as Ranking Member in the previous Congress and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) will take the role of the Democratic leader on the Committee after Debbie Stabenow’s (D-MI) retirement. Freshman Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) will also serve on the Committee.
On the House side, Rep. French Hill (R-AR), former Chairman of the Digital Assets subcommittee takes over the gavel of the full House Financial Services Committee and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) will remain the Ranking Member.
