Washington, D.C. — The Senate voted today to pass the 2022 omnibus spending bill and include key provisions strongly supported by the Bank Policy Institute.
The bill will benefit the economy and strengthen cybersecurity. It addresses “tough legacy” LIBOR contracts, referring to hard-to-amend contracts that base their interest rates on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), without applicable fallback language. Failing to enact a federal legislative fix would leave investors, consumers and issuers of securities embroiled in years of uncertainty and litigation. The legislation is timely, as the remaining versions of LIBOR are scheduled to be discontinued in June 2023. It also establishes new requirements for how the private sector and its government partners should share information following a cyber incident to help front-line responders prevent and deter threats.
BPI strongly supports the inclusion of these two bills. Greg Baer, BPI President and CEO, issued the following statements in response to the Senate vote:
On LIBOR “Tough Legacy” Contracts…
“The targeted LIBOR legislation included in the omnibus bill will give needed clarity to tough-to-amend LIBOR contracts that lack adequate fallback language, supporting a smooth transition away from LIBOR and avoiding a disruption in financial markets. We encourage swift enactment.”On Cyber Incident Reporting…
“This legislation recognizes that front-line defenders can’t drop everything amid a cyber event to try and guess what to report to the government and how to do it. It establishes clear guidelines on what is required to be reported before an event takes place so cyber experts can focus on doing their jobs in a crisis, while still ensuring their government partners have what they need to warn others and coordinate a government response. BPI supports these reforms and calls on the President to sign this bill into law.”
The bill now awaits the President’s signature: The U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the legislation on Wednesday evening. The bill will now be forwarded to the President, where it is widely expected to be signed into law.
These efforts were made possible by the sponsors’ leadership: The inclusion of these provisions in the omnibus bill are significant achievements made possible through the willingness of Congress to engage industry in open discussions regarding the outcomes, and the leadership of the sponsors. BPI expresses sincere gratitude to Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Rep. John Katko (R-NY), Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) for their efforts to modernize cyber incident reporting requirements. We also thank Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) for their work on LIBOR.
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About Bank Policy Institute.
The Bank Policy Institute (BPI) is a nonpartisan public policy, research and advocacy group, representing the nation’s leading banks and their customers. Our members include universal banks, regional banks and the major foreign banks doing business in the United States. Collectively, they employ almost 2 million Americans, make nearly half of the nation’s small business loans, and are an engine for financial innovation and economic growth.
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