House Financial Services committee advances reconciliation committee print after daylong markup; key votes postponed

The House Financial Services Committee on Thursday conducted a daylong markup of a reconciliation committee print intended to identify at least $1 billion in savings under the FY25 budget resolution, discussing sweeping changes to housing, consumer-protection and financial‑oversight programs.

Chairman Hill opened the session by framing the markup as a fiscal exercise tied to the budget resolution, saying, “Today, we are undertaking the work assigned to us under the FY 25 budget resolution.” He described the committee print as a tool to rescind unobligated balances and limit certain agencies’ carryover authorities in order to achieve the instructed savings.

The committee considered an amendment in the nature of a substitute as the base text and debated a wide range of member amendments. Ranking Member Representative Maxine Waters repeatedly pressed the panel to preserve spending for housing, consumer protection and other programs; Waters called for votes on measures to preserve emergency housing vouchers and other housing investments.

Several procedural motions and recorded votes punctuated the day. Early in the session members voted to table Representative Waters’s attempt to force immediate consideration of a resolution of inquiry; the clerk reported the roll as 22 ayes and 10 nays and the chair announced the motion to table was agreed to. Many subsequent member amendments were debated at length; for several the committee conducted voice votes where the chair announced a result and members then asked for recorded votes, which were ordered and postponed under committee rules.

What the committee print would do

Chair Hill summarized several of the budgetary changes contained in the committee print. Among the provisions he described were rescinding unobligated balances in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) and limiting carryover authority for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; he also described a proposal that would transfer certain unused balances to the Treasury and impose caps on some assessments. The chair said the package was intended to meet and exceed the $1 billion savings instruction in the House concurrent budget resolution.

Major topic areas discussed

- Housing and homelessness: Members debated amendments that would preserve or expand funding for emergency housing vouchers (EHV), public‑housing capital repairs and other HUD programs; proponents argued the measures protect people who remain vulnerable to homelessness, while opponents said those were policy expansions inconsistent with today’s budget‑cutting instructions. Several housing amendments drew extended debate and recorded‑vote requests.

- Consumer protection and the CFPB: Ranking Member Waters and other Democrats argued that the committee print’s limits on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s unobligated balances and its funding would hamper the bureau’s enforcement and rulemaking authority. Multiple amendments sought to restore or protect CFPB functions; those proposals were debated and several were rejected by voice vote with recorded votes requested and postponed.

- Audit oversight and the PCAOB: Members on both sides debated proposals that would alter the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s authority and funding mechanism, and members raised concerns about access to foreign audit inspections (including China) and investor protection. The committee heard arguments that abolishing or weakening the PCAOB could reduce oversight of auditors without producing meaningful savings.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to table Representative Waters’s parliamentary motion (to force consideration): passed by recorded vote (ayes 22, nays 10). The clerk reported that result on the record.

- Multiple member amendments (housing, CFPB, PCAOB and others): several were rejected by voice vote and the chair announced results as “nays have it”; for numerous amendments members requested and were granted recorded votes and the committee postponed those roll calls under committee rules for later completion.

What happens next

Committee members repeatedly postponed final roll‑call votes on many amendments; the chair instructed that recorded votes ordered during the markup be completed later and that the committee would reconvene for the remaining recorded votes. The committee proceeded to the next steps for reporting the committee print out of markup once the outstanding recorded votes are completed.

Speakers quoted in this report include Chairman Hill and Ranking Member Representative Maxine Waters. Quotations are taken from the committee transcript of the markup.

Ending note

Committee members framed the markup as an exercise required by the House budget instruction to find savings; members on both sides emphasized the broader consequences of the package for housing, consumer protections and regulatory oversight as they pressed for or against specific changes.