Congressman Dan Meuser (PA-09) has announced his support for the Main Street Capital Access Act, a legislative initiative introduced by Financial Services Chairman French Hill (AR-02) and Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chairman Andy Barr (KY-06). The act aims to improve access to banking services, strengthen community lenders, and increase capital availability for small businesses.
The proposed legislation seeks to address what supporters describe as burdensome regulations that have impacted community banks over the past four years. According to Meuser, “This is a long-overdue reform package. Ten years ago, America had more than 6,100 community banks. Today, we’re down to fewer than 4,000. That decline means less access to capital for small businesses, fewer loans for farmers, fewer options for homebuyers, and fewer financial services for working families. The Main Street Capital Access Act reverses that trend by strengthening community banks, restoring local lending, and making sure capital flows where it belongs: back to Main Street.”
A key component of the package is Meuser’s SAFE Guidance Act. This measure was recommended in the House Financial Services Committee’s debanking report, which found that federal regulators sometimes used informal guidance and reputational risk assessments to exclude certain lawful businesses from banking services. The legislation also incorporates elements of an executive order aimed at ending debanking practices.
Meuser stated: “As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, we proved debanking was real, coordinated, and wrong. The debanking report didn’t just diagnose the problem, it laid out solutions. Key legislative recommendations in the debanking report are part of this comprehensive package to make sure no American is ever cut off from the financial system again.”
The bill intends to ensure that local lending remains focused on communities rather than larger financial centers and seeks to make it easier for new community banks to form. It also includes provisions designed to protect fair banking access for individuals or sectors previously affected by being unbanked or debanked.
Meuser summarized: “This is a pro-Main Street, pro-small bank, pro-community reform package. It puts fairness, opportunity, and local growth back at the center of our financial system — where they belong.”
