Biden Vetoes Congressional Resolution to Scrap CFPB’s Small Business Lending Rules

Bipartisan or not, President Biden formally vetoed S.J.Res. 32 which would have scrapped the CFPB’s 888 pages of soon-to-be implemented small business lending rules and forced the agency to create new ones.

The CFPB is obligated by the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to collect data from small business finance companies (MCA included) so that it will be able to assess the market and measure potential disparities. It is a limited scope law that nevertheless resulted in 888 pages of rules explaining how to collect that data and send it to the federal government. They are slated to go into effect very soon.

Despite data collection being the intended purpose, Biden suggested in his official veto statement that the rules are actually intended to “conduct oversight of abusive and predatory lenders.”

“If enacted, this resolution would harm all those that stand to benefit from expanded transparency and accountability,” Biden said. “By hampering efforts to promote transparency and accountability in small business lending, Republicans are siding with big banks and corporations over the needs of small business owners.”

Full statement here

Unless litigation changes the timelines, many funders and lenders must start complying by October 1, 2024. This is a federal law, not a state requirement.