New rules make bank mergers during crises harder and more public.

What it does

The bill stops bank regulators from using normal exceptions to merger rules. Regulators must prove the merger is needed to stop serious economic harm. When regulators grant an exception, they must tell Congress within 30 days. They must explain why other options would not work. The reports must be made public.

Who it affects

Bank regulators and companies that might buy failed banks are affected. Citizens benefit from more public information about bank deals. Taxpayers could pay more if bank failures cost extra money to fix.

One thing to notice

The bill makes it harder for regulators to act fast when banks fail. This could make bank crises more costly to fix.

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

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.

• Dec 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Dec 10, 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”
• 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: 51 - 0”
• Jul 14, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote”
• Jul 14, 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

1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 1 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $2,170,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 50 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.

Stephen Lynch, who sponsored the bill, received $320,407 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• Independent Community Bankers of America — $2,170,000 in 1 report

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

Words to know

• merger — When two companies join together to become one.
• regulators — Government officials who make sure banks follow the rules.
• exception — Permission to break a rule in a special case.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
• sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.