Congress quietly raises bank oversight thresholds, locking in deregulation
H.R. 6553 — TIER Act of 2025 · Filed by Andy Barr (R-KY) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 10, 2025 · Reported out
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill raises the asset-size thresholds that trigger enhanced federal banking regulation and supervision. Banks below $370 billion in assets (up from $250 billion) and below $150 billion (up from $100 billion) will face lighter regulatory oversight. The bill also mandates automatic increases to these thresholds every five years based on GDP growth, effectively reducing regulatory scope over time without requiring Congress to act again.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to raise and automatically index upward the asset thresholds that determine which banks face enhanced regulatory scrutiny under Dodd-Frank and related statutes. This is functionally a deregulation bill disguised as a technical adjustment for inflation.
What the text implies
- Automatic five-year indexing to GDP growth means regulatory scope shrinks without congressional action, effectively delegating deregulation authority to the Federal Reserve and banking agencies.
- Banks in the $150–$370 billion range will exit enhanced prudential standards (stress testing, capital buffers, liquidity requirements) designed to prevent systemic collapse, shifting risk to the financial system.
- The bill's rounding rules (up to nearest $50B for large thresholds, $5B for smaller ones) create discrete jumps that may push additional banks out of regulatory categories in single adjustment cycles.
- Agencies are directed to seek 'uniform thresholds' across regulators, but the bill grants discretion in how GDP ratios are applied, potentially creating regulatory arbitrage opportunities.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens face reduced bank supervision and consumer protections as regulatory thresholds rise and automatically adjust upward. Larger banks will escape enhanced oversight designed to prevent systemic risk and protect depositors, while the automatic indexing mechanism locks in deregulation without future congressional review.
Who stands to gain
- large regional and mid-sized banks ($150B–$370B in assets)
- bank holding companies escaping enhanced prudential standards
- financial services firms reducing compliance costs
Named in the bill
Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Financial Stability Act of 2010, Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, Department of Commerce
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 7 Republicans.
- Dec 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Dec 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
- Dec 16, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Dec 17, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 33 - 19”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
5 lobbying clients named this bill on 6 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $18,110,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 7 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 78% of bills with at least one filing.
Andy Barr, the sponsor, reported $2,160,072 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $12,000 of that came from 2 PACs tied to these lobbying clients.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $16,950,000 on 1 filing
- Western Alliance Bancorporation — $420,000 on 2 filings
- Keycorp — $300,000 on 1 filing
- Hsbc Technology and Services USA Inc. — $270,000 on 1 filing
- Huntington Bancshares Incorporated — $170,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (6,693 characters) on Jul 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress quietly raises bank oversight thresholds, locking in deregulation” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr6553 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.