{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://westerman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/arkansas-delegation-yellen-proposed-treasury-rules-will-hurt-rural", "Arkansas Delegation to Yellen: Proposed Treasury Rules Will Hurt Rural Arkansas Banks", "2023-04-13", "2023", "2023-04", "Republican", "House", "AR", "Bruce Westerman", "W000821", "westerman.house.gov", "westerman", "https://westerman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON - Congressman Bruce Westerman (AR-04), along with Senator John Boozman (R-AR), Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), Congressman Rick Crawford (AR-01), Congressman French Hill (AR-02), and Congressman Steve Womack (AR-04), today sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The letter warns Secretary Yellen that the proposed changes to the Community Development Financial Institution\u2019s (CDFI) Certification Application will hurt Arkansas banks, especially those in rural communities.\n\nThe lawmakers ask Secretary Yellen to rescind the proposals and give regulatory agencies and affected financial institutions the time to carefully consider any changes to the CDFI application.\n\nIn part, the lawmakers wrote:\n\n\u201cAccording to a 2021 report by the National Community Investment Coalition, lending to low-and-moderate-income areas in rural counties is only 10% that of middle and upper-income lending. Many of these rural counties are underserved by traditional financial institutions and this lack of access to credit and financial services makes it difficult for rural residents to start businesses, buy homes, and pursue other economic opportunities. Yet, the Treasury Department is pursuing changes to the CDFI certification application that would result in many rural banks losing their CDFI status through stricter rules on interest rates, underwriting standards, risk management tools, disclosure requirements, and target markets.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nApril 13, 2023\n\nThe Honorable Janet Yellen\n\nSecretary\n\nDepartment of the Treasury\n\n1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW\n\nWashington, DC 20220\n\nDear Secretary Yellen:\n\nWe write to you regarding proposed changes to the Community Development Financial Institution\u2019s (CDFI) Certification Application and related guidance. The aggressive changes the Treasury Department is pursuing will result in the loss of CDFI status for banks across Arkansas.\n\nAccording to a 2021 report by the National Community Investment Coalition, lending to low-and-moderate-income areas in rural counties is only 10% that of middle and upper-income lending. Many of these rural counties are underserved by traditional financial institutions and this lack of access to credit and financial services makes it difficult for rural residents to start businesses, buy homes, and pursue other economic opportunities. Yet, the Treasury Department is pursuing changes to the CDFI certification application that would result in many rural banks losing their CDFI status through stricter rules on interest rates, underwriting standards, risk management tools, disclosure requirements, and target markets.\n\nNot only are these new rules harmful for rural communities, but the process for making these changes is inadequate. We ask that the Treasury Department pursue any changes in the CDFI Certification Application through the rulemaking process outlined in the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). These changes deserve to be carefully examined by our regulatory agencies and the affected financial institutions should be given time to consider and weigh in.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T23:44:29Z"]], "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://westerman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/arkansas-delegation-yellen-proposed-treasury-rules-will-hurt-rural"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9721710812300444, "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"}