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.”
Barr also introduced a bill in March taking aim at investors and retirement plan sponsors that put environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors above maximizing profits.
Both pieces of legislation are seeking to prevent powerful financial actors from discriminating against individuals and businesses on the basis of social and political viewpoints and barring ideology from investment portfolios.
Barr is considering a run for the open Kentucky Senate seat to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell. The congressman raised more than $2 million in the first quarter with more than $5 million in cash on-hand, NOTUS reported.
President Donald Trump gave a shout-out to Barr during an event at the White House Tuesday afternoon celebrating the president’s executive order seeking to boost the coal industry.
“Good luck with everything, I hear good things,” Trump said to Barr.
Former Republican Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who previously described McConnell as a “mentor,” is the only declared GOP candidate in the race. Cameron announced his campaign bid mere hours after McConnell announced his retirement on Feb. 20.
Cameron is the CEO of the 1792 Exchange, a conservative nonprofit focused on educating businesses about the harms of ESG policies, according to its website.
Kentucky businessman Nate Morris is also mulling a run for the seat. Morris, who ran a large software-based waste and recycling company for more than a decade, has also sharply criticized ESG since leaving the corporate world.
“I’ve never seen extortion like what I saw with the ESG mafia and the thugs that try to push corporate America into doing things that satisfy a political agenda,” Morris told Breitbart in an interview in February. He also characterized ESG as a “scam” in the interview.
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