Senator Kevin Cramer Pushes New Bill To Stop Banking Discrimination

North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer is pushing a bill that seeks to punish large American banks for not working with individuals for moral or political reasons.

The senator claims that, using their economic position, banks and other financial institutions completely reject law-abiding, legitimate businesses by not lending or offering services to them. This covers businesses like firearms, ammunition, cryptocurrency, federal prison contractors, and energy providers.

Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Kevin Cramer brought back his Fair Access to Banking Act to "safeguard fair access to financial services and guarantee banks run in a safe and sound manner." The law mandates that loan and service decisions have to be grounded in objective, risk-based analysis rather than political or reputational preference. Similar legislation was presented in the House of Representatives by Kentucky Republican Representative Andy Barr.

"When progressives failed at banning these entire industries, they turned to weaponizing banks as sort of a backdoor to carry out their activist goals," Cramer said.

This law specifically penalizes banks and credit unions with over $10 billion in total consolidated assets, or their subsidiaries, should they refuse to deal with any legally compliant, creditworthy individual. It also keeps payment card networks from doing business with individuals based on political or reputational factors. The law mandates that qualified institutions offer written justification for their denial of financial services to a given individual.

The Fair Access to Banking Act would further punish providers who disobey the law by disqualifying institutions from using discount window lending programs, terminating status as an insured depository institution or credit union, or imposing a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation.

Cramers camp listed an example of why the law was necessary, citing Citigroup adopting a policy in 2018 prohibiting project-related financing for coal plants, and in 2020 five of the biggest banks in the nation declared they would not grant loans or credit to assist oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, despite clear congressional approval.

With Capital One, among other banks, previously including "ammunitions, firearms, or firearm parts" in the prohibited payments section of its corporate policy manual and payment services like Apple Pay and PayPal denying their services for transactions involving firearms or ammunition, such exclusive practices also extend to industries protected by the Second Amendment.

Support for the Fair Access to Banking Act has grown every Congress in the years since Cramer originally presented it. Florida and Tennessee passed Fair Access laws at the state level; comparable legislation was proposed in Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, and South Dakota. Banks have stopped supporting discriminating groups meant to target particular sectors, therefore starving particular businesses.

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Supporting the Fair Access to Banking Act are the National Shooting Sports Foundation, National Rifle Association, North Dakota Petroleum Council, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, The Digital Chamber, Blockchain Association, Independent Petroleum Association of America, Online Lenders Alliance, Day 1 Alliance, GEO Group, Lignite Energy Council, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, and National Mining Association.