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Smucker Statement on Financial CHOICE Act

June 8, 2017

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-16) issued the following statement on the House-passed Financial CHOICE Act which included his amendment to help protect consumer data from cyberattacks:

"In community banking, relationships are everything. When I graduated from high school, I bought a small construction company from my brother that had just a few employees. When I was ready to grow that business, I didn't go to Wall Street for a loan – I went to a community bank. They knew me, and provided the capital necessary to expand and create more jobs. There are countless stories of motivated individuals that want to harness the power of free enterprise to build something. In many ways, that's the American Dream. Unfortunately, in today's regulatory environment, achieving this can be extraordinarily difficult.

"Over the last five months, I have worked with my colleagues in the House to provide regulatory relief to small businesses and families across Pennsylvania and the nation in order to get our economy moving again after years of stagnation. We have put Main Street – not Wall Street – at the center of our efforts.

"The Financial CHOICE Act will make it easier for community banks to provide capital to entrepreneurs who want to innovate and small business owners who are ready to grow and hire more workers. It ends taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street firms, cuts the deficit by $24 billion, and reins in unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in Washington. It's the type of reform we need.

"I am also glad that the House agreed to my amendment to help protect consumer credit data from cyberattacks. Millions of Americans trust credit reporting agencies with their personal information to help protect against fraud. But too often, these agencies are susceptible to the very cyberattacks they are charged with defending against. Multiple high-profile cyberattacks have occurred in recent years. Modernizing multi-factor verification would not only provide for greater security, but could also save taxpayer money by reducing the number of fraudulent filings with the IRS."

Prior to the House passing the Financial CHOICE Act, Rep. Smucker spoke on the House floorurging his colleagues to support his amendment.