{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://barr.house.gov/press-releases?ID=6F466939-2187-4E0E-8F53-3AA04B989152", "Barr Announces Introduction of Bill to Codify President Trump\u2019s Debanking Executive Order", "2025-08-08", "2025", "2025-08", "Republican", "House", "KY", "Andy Barr", "B001282", "barr.house.gov", "barr", "https://barr.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C.\u2014 U.S. Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY) will introduce legislation to make permanent President\u2019s Trump Executive Order guaranteeing free and fair access to banking for all Americans, regardless of their political beliefs. The Executive Order, signed by President Trump on Thursday, takes aim the discriminatory practice of politicized debanking\u2014where financial institutions deny or restrict services based on constitutionally protected viewpoints. The order echoes legislation Barr has introduced for multiple Congresses: the Fair Access to Banking Act. It also aligns with the FIRM Act, legislation authored by Barr and Senator Tim Scott, which would prohibit regulators from using so-called \u201creputational risk\u201d to pressure banks into denying service to disfavored industries.\n\n\u201cFrom Operation Chokepoint under the Obama-Biden administration to recent examples of religious groups, firearms manufacturers, and even energy companies being debanked, the American people have had enough of woke discrimination from Wall Street and weaponized regulators,\u201d said Congressman Barr. \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s bold executive action is a major step forward\u2014and now we\u2019re going to make sure it becomes law.\u201d\n\n\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s Executive Order holds banks accountable for discriminating against conservatives and crypto through fines and other consequences for lenders that deny service to conservatives or customers due to their political affiliations or protected beliefs. This political discrimination \u2013 such as we saw with the Obama Administration\u2019s \u2018Operation Chokepoint\u2019 \u2013 is unlawful, dishonest, and decreases trust in our banking institutions. The Executive Order also improves the supervisory process by stopping unelected regulators from using \u2018reputational risk\u2019 as a component of financial supervision and as a tool to target those who don\u2019t align with their political agenda,\u201d said Majority Leader Steve Scalise. \u201cBanks should be assessing legitimate financial risk \u2013 not the political views of hardworking and lawful individuals or businesses. I\u2019m grateful to Congressman Andy Barr for leading the effort to codify the President\u2019s Executive Order in the House and fighting to ensure every American gets a fair shake at the bank regardless of their political views.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe NRA applauds President Trump for his efforts to rein in both financial regulators and institutions who have refused services to constitutionally-protected industries for too long. All lawful industries have a right to access federally-secured financial services, but time and again we have seen anti-gun radicals weaponize this industry against Second Amendment Advocates and related businesses,\u201d said John Commerford, Executive Director of NRA-ILA. \u201cWe also thank Representative Andy Barr for his longstanding leadership on this issue through bills like the \u201cFair Access to Banking Act\u2019 which would prohibit financial institutions from discriminating against constitutionally protected industries, and the \u2018FIRM Act,\u2019 which would prohibit regulators from using \u2018reputational risk\u2019 to pressure the financial services industry into refusing service based on political or social factors.\u201d\n\n\u201cNSSF wholeheartedly supports the effort led by Congressman Andy Barr to codify President Trump\u2019s Executive Order prohibiting banking discrimination based on beliefs, affiliations or political views. There is no room in the American economy for unelected Wall Street bankers to decide winners-and-losers based solely on how individuals or entities choose to exercise their Constitutionally-protected rights,\u201d said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. \u201cCongressman Barr has been a true champion when it comes to battling banking discrimination. He sponsored the NSSF-supported Fair Access to Banking (FAB) Act and the Financial Integrity and Regulation Management (FIRM) Act. NSSF continues to urge Congress to act to put into law these protections against politically-motivated discrimination.\u201d\n\n\"We at Solana Policy Institute strongly endorse Congressman Andy Barr's efforts to permanently enshrine banking fairness protections into federal law,\u201d said Kristin Smith, President of Solana Policy Institute. \u201cFor too long, blockchain entrepreneurs and crypto ecosystem builders have faced inconsistent account decisions and service denials that have nothing to do with legitimate risk assessment. Rep. Barr understands that America's competitive advantage in the global digital economy depends on ensuring our most innovative companies have access to the traditional financial system. We look forward to supporting this vital reform through the legislative process.\"\n\n\u201cWe applaud Congressman Andy Barr\u2019s leadership in introducing legislation to codify President Trump\u2019s Executive Order guaranteeing free and fair banking for all lawful businesses\u2014including those in the crypto industry. By enshrining the EO\u2019s requirement to eliminate \u201creputation risk\u201d and mandate objective, risk-based analyses into law, Rep. Barr\u2019s bill will ensure that crypto firms and their customers have lasting access to the banking system. We stand ready to work with Rep. Barr and his colleagues on this critical reform and secure America\u2019s role as the global leader in financial technology,\u201d said Summer Mersinger, CEO of the Blockchain Association.\n\n\u201cDe-risking has been an ongoing challenge for our members who have experienced harmful disruptions to their small businesses after having bank accounts terminated with no explanation. We support this Executive Order, which complements the FIRM Act and Fair Access to Banking Act, as these measures would provide a balanced approach to ensure banking services are available to all lawful, regulated businesses/industries,\u201d said Bill Dawson, President of the National Pawnbrokers Association.\n\nThe legislation Barr introduced to codify the Executive Order prohibits banks from denying services based on political or religious views for legally operating businesses. Some of the most targeted businesses and individuals of debanking in the past include:\n\nFirearms manufacturers and dealers legally operating under federal law\n\nCryptocurrency firms facing account closures and restrictions without legitimate cause\n\nEnergy companies, including coal and natural gas producers, cut off for not fitting a progressive ESG narrative\n\nChristian nonprofits, including one providing care to orphans and victims of sex trafficking, whose accounts were shuttered\n\nPresident Donald Trump was debanked by multiple banks following his first-term despite consistently being on the Forbes billionaire list and having great credit.\n\nAmbassador Sam Brownback, the former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, whose personal account was terminated by a major bank without explanation.\n\nThe Executive Order mandates that federal regulators eliminate the use of \u201creputation risk\u201d in supervisory decisions and conduct a full review of past debanking practices. It also compels the Small Business Administration to notify and reinstate victims of unlawful debanking actions.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T14:57:50Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://barr.house.gov/press-releases?ID=6F466939-2187-4E0E-8F53-3AA04B989152"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.787266159430146, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}