EXCLUSIVE: Possible GOP Senate Candidate’s Bill Takes Aim At ‘Rogue Regulators’

Republican Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr introduced bipartisan legislation Tuesday to prevent bank regulators from using political ideology to target disfavored federally regulated financial institutions, the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

Barr’s Financial Integrity and Regulation Management (FIRM) Act would prohibit federal banking agencies from employing “reputational risk” — social or political factors that could potentially harm the way an organization is perceived — to cut off financial services to businesses or individuals. Barr’s introduction of the bill comes as he is considering jumping into the 2026 Kentucky Senate GOP primary, which could be one of the most watched contests of the midterms.

Barr, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, said his bill would curb “rogue regulators” seeking to debank individuals or businesses that federal banking agencies disfavor.

“For too long, unelected regulators have used the vague and subjective concept of reputational risk to push political ideology under the guise of bank supervision,” Barr said. “The FIRM Act restores neutrality and integrity to our financial regulatory system and protects the rights of all Americans to access banking services without fear of unlawful discrimination.”

“All federally legal businesses and law-abiding citizens regardless of political ideology should have equal opportunity to obtain financial services and should not face unlawful discrimination in obtaining such services,” the FIRM Act’s text states in part.

Barr is co-leading the bill with Democratic New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, who told the DCNF that the FIRM Act would restore “fairness and objectivity to our financial system.”