Republican North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer is set to introduce a bill Tuesday aimed at prohibiting financial institutions from targeting individuals and industries on ideological grounds.
The Fair Access to Banking Act would prohibit a payment card network from discriminating against individuals because of reputational or political considerations, according to legislation obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Cramer’s bill would also prevent banks and credit unions with more than $10 billion in total assets that refuse to do business with a person or industry due to their beliefs from using a crucial electronic money transfer network that is essential for operation and managing transactions.
Cramer first introduced the legislation during the 118th Congress, though it did not progress to a vote in either chamber. The bill aims to protect industries and individuals that have previously been subjected to “debanking” schemes for alleged ideological reasons, including conservative individuals and organizations, as well as firearm manufacturers and fossil fuel producers.
“I just think it’s fundamentally wrong that banks get to be the moral compass for industries,” Cramer told the DCNF.
Several senators have already cosponsored the forthcoming bill, including Republican Sens. Jim Banks of Indiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ted Cruz of Texas and Katie Britt of Alabama, among others.
The soon-to-be reintroduced bill has also gained the endorsements of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Digital Chamber, the Blockchain Association, the Online Lenders Alliance and the GEO group, according to background on the legislation obtained by the DCNF.
In recent years, several major banks in the U.S. have faced accusations of discrimination against customers on the basis of their personal beliefs or political affiliation. The Bank of America, for instance, has previously been criticized for allegedly denying services to conservative customers. In 2023, former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron accused JPMorgan Chase of engaging in similar practices discrimination. Other state attorney generals have also warned that financial institutions have potentially engaged in discrimination against certain industries, such as gun manufacturers and fossil fuel producers.
Major credit card companies Visa, Mastercard and American Express agreed to create a merchant code specifically for firearm and ammunition retailers in 2024 to comply with a California state law allowing banks to track gun purchases, CBS reported.
“People saw for four years what happens when the woke left gets control of everything,” Cramer told the DCNF. “When they get control of the government, they get control of all of the institutions that support our economy, not just the government. They get the regulators that put this pressure on people.”
“I think the bank presidents themselves would like the relief that a bill like this would provide so they don’t have to think about some activist investor that’s going to come after their presidency or liberal board members that are going to try and take them out with a proxy,” Cramer added.
During President Donald Trump’s first presidency, his administration created the Fair Access Rule — which Cramer helped craft — to ensure that individuals had fair access to banking services regardless of their religious or political views. However, the rule’s implementation was placed on hold during former President Joe Biden’s term.
While the Fair Access Rule was halted under the Biden-Harris administration, states such as Tennessee and Florida have enacted their own “fair access” or “anti-debanking” legislation in recent years.
Cramer’s Fair Access to Banking Act also expands on the Freedom Financing Act, a bill also introduced by the senator in March 2019 which aimed to ensure that large financial institutions could not deny service to certain industries protected by the constitution that are fully compliant with all laws and statutes. The Freedom Financing Act was one of the first bills that Cramer introduced after he joined the Senate in 2019.
In the previous Congress, the original legislation garnered industry support from various organizations, including the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the NRA, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the National Mining Association and the Kentucky Coal Association.
“I have to give some credit to the banks, a lot of them have dropped their opposition to de-banking certain industries, their rhetoric has changed slightly and in some cases maybe a lot,” Cramer told the DCNF. “I just think that our timing is good, and we’re creating momentum. The banks themselves, even without the legislation, are starting to figure out that they’re on the wrong side of history here.”
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