On February 23, 2017 House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and 33 GOP members of the Committee sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen requesting that the Fed “neither propose nor adopt any new rules until the U.S. Senate confirms a [Federal Reserve] Vice Chairman for Supervision.”  The letter is in response to Congressional testimony that Yellen gave on February 15, 2017 where she indicated that the Fed might be finalizing a proposal that “pertains to the stress tests and what it called the Stress Capital Buffer.”  

The GOP lawmakers urged the Fed to freeze new regulations “[a]bsent an emergency," and abide by the President’s February 3, 2017 executive order on “Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System.” They also warned the Federal Reserve Chair that if any rules were adopted prior to confirmation of a Vice Chair for Supervision, the Committee would, “work with [their] colleagues to ensure that Congress scrutinizes the Federal Reserve’s actions — and, if appropriate, overturns them — pursuant to the Congressional Review Act.”  

This latest letter from GOP members of the Committee follows one sent on January 31, 2017 by the Committee’s Vice Chairman, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC). In that letter, Rep. McHenry called on Yellen to cease negotiating "binding" international financial regulatory standards in such forums as the Financial Stability Board and the Basel Committee "until President Trump has had an opportunity to nominate and appoint officials that prioritize America's best interests.”

The full text of the letter is available via:  https://www.sullcrom.com/files/upload/2017-02-23%20Letter%20to%20Chair%20Yellen.pdf