Congress orders the Federal Reserve to review its emergency bank lending system.

What it does

The bill tells the Federal Reserve's Board to review the discount window. The discount window is how the Fed lends money to banks in crisis. The Board must check technology, security, hours, and how agencies talk. The Board must find ways to reduce shame that stops banks from using it. The Board must send a plan to Congress in one year. The Board must report progress each year after that.

Who it affects

Banks and the Federal Reserve are affected. The public gains because the bill aims to strengthen the money system. Congress gets reports on what the Federal Reserve finds and plans.

One thing to notice

The bill requires a review and a plan but does not set a deadline. The Federal Reserve can keep some findings secret. It says sharing them could hurt money policy, bank safety, or computer security.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.

• May 14, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• May 14, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services and Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
• Jul 22, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• Jul 23, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 48 - 1”
• Feb 9, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote”
• Feb 9, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Hill (AR) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

3 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 4 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $40,030,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 152 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 61% of bills with any report.

Mónica De La Cruz, who sponsored the bill, received $759,099 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $37,710,000 in 2 reports
• Independent Community Bankers of America — $2,170,000 in 1 report
• Western Alliance Bancorporation — $150,000 in 1 report

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• discount window — A way the Federal Reserve lends money to banks during crises.
• Board — The group that leads the Federal Reserve and makes big money decisions.
• shame — A bad reputation that makes people avoid something.
• plan — A detailed set of steps to fix problems that have been found.
• computer security — Protection against attacks on computer systems and data.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.