BANKING CAN BRIDGE THE POLITICAL DIVIDE WASHINGTON UPDATE ROB NICHOLS President and CEO American Bankers Association We all recognize the political divisions in this country and the difficulty in getting Republicans and Democrats to agree on the time of day, much less substantive policy issues. But as bankers who attended ABA’s recent Washington Summit in the nation’s capital learned, once you drill down past the headlines and the noise on cable news shows, you’ll find that not only is bipartisan cooperation still possible when it comes to banking — it’s happening. During the Summit, bankers had the opportunity to hear from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and what came across consistently was a commitment to ensuring that we have a strong, resilient banking sector that encourages economic growth and helps consumers and businesses thrive and prosper. As freshman Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) — who has emerged as a bipartisan dealmaker in her first several months on the job — observed on the Summit stage: “Our varying backgrounds often color how we see things, but that doesn’t mean we can’t come together and do great things.” At ABA, we agree with this statement — in fact, it’s been the bedrock of our approach to advocacy over the years. And if you look at the current session of Congress, you’ll see several examples of bipartisan cooperation on banking issues. One great example is the SCAM Act that is currently moving through both chambers of Congress, co-sponsored by Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) in the Senate and Reps. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) and Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) in the House. This bill, which has strong support from both the ABA and state associations, targets the widespread problem of fraud perpetrated through social media. The bill requires companies like Meta to take reasonable steps to identify and remove fraudulent ads from their platforms since we know that’s where many scams start. The support for this bill on both sides of the aisle is a clear indication that lawmakers recognize the need to respond to the fraud crisis facing Americans. The SCAM Act is a commonsense 8
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