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Committee member criticizes deregulatory bills, backs bipartisan reauthorization of Defense Production Act
Summary
A committee member on the House Financial Services panel warned Republican-backed deregulatory bills would weaken consumer protections and raise costs for families, and endorsed bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Defense Production Act with stronger oversight and explicit limits on misuse.
A member of the House Financial Services Committee told colleagues the Republican-backed deregulatory bills before the panel are likely to raise costs for households and weaken oversight of financial institutions, while urging support for a bipartisan reauthorization of the Defense Production Act.
The committee member opened by saying, "Americans are fed up with rising grocery, utility, and housing costs," and blamed administration policies, including tariffs and recent foreign-policy actions, for driving up prices. The speaker told the committee that, in their view, "none of the bills before us today will lower costs for Americans" and warned those measures could increase expenses for families saving for retirement or college.
The lawmaker praised a bipartisan DPA reauthorization being advanced with the committee, calling the authorities "extraordinary" and saying during emergencies the DPA "helped boost production of personal protective equipment or PPE and vaccines" and restored supplies after hurricanes and supply-chain disruptions. The member asked colleagues to support a modernized DPA that "adds clear guard rails, strengthens oversight, and keeps the law focused on the public good, not as a loophole for political abuse." The speaker also said, "I hope, Mr. chairman that you would agree that the DPA should never be used to conduct surveillance of Americans or to build autonomous killing machines."
On the deregulatory measures, the committee member said Republican sponsors claim to back community banks, small businesses and consumers, but that the bills "gut safeguards," "let Wall Street mega banks and their CEOs off the hook," and "undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau." The speaker warned the proposals could strip transparency and open the door to risky trading and unregistered stock sales, creating opportunities for scams.
Addressing small-business concerns, the member said rising costs and the proposed legislation would leave smaller firms exposed to litigation and fraud because they "don't have armies of lawyers to navigate these hidden risks." The lawmaker called instead for legislation that preserves market fairness so that entrepreneurs "succeed on hard work, not scams."
The member concluded by thanking Chairman Hill for bipartisan cooperation on the DPA reauthorization and yielded back the balance of their time.
