WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced a discussion draft of the Ensuring Fair Access to Banking Act, legislation that seeks to prevent the denial of banking services for politically motivated reasons. Specifically, the legislation guards against both regulator and financial institution-initiated de-banking by establishing a strong federal fair access standard, a robust enforcement mechanism, and additional targeted reforms to the examination and supervision process.
“Too often, certain financial institutions or politically motivated regulators have pursued policies that cut off lawful industries they simply don’t like,” said Senator Tillis. “That kind of back-door policymaking undermines transparency, accountability, and Americans’ access to the financial system. This commonsense bill reins in those abuses, strengthens oversight of federal regulators, and restores fair access for legally operating businesses.”
“Protecting the American people from debanking is essential to preserving our ability to meaningfully exercise our God-given and constitutionally protected rights,” said Brian Knight, Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom. “To achieve this, politicized debanking must be clearly prohibited, and that prohibition must be backed by adequate enforcement mechanisms. By the same token, banks should not be forced to become public utilities or face needless uncertainty. ADF appreciates Sen. Tillis’s thoughtful balancing of these concerns in his fair access proposal and would encourage support as the bill is prepared for introduction.”
“Financial discrimination continues to be a challenge for the firearm industry. We appreciate Senator Tillis’s leadership to ensure our industry’s access to financial services in the marketplace is unencumbered by political discrimination,” said Lawrence G. Keane, Vice President and General Counsel, National Shooting Sports Foundation. “While considerable gains have been made by the Trump administration to end this devious practice, Congress has an equally important role to ensure free and fair access to financial services for lawful industries that cannot be reversed with the stroke of a pen by future administrations.”
“Access to banking products and services should not be influenced by politics,” said Erik Rust, Head of Government Affairs, Bank Policy Institute. “Unfortunately, regulatory overreach, supervisory discretion and a maze of overlapping rules have forced banks to choose between legal compliance and reaching more customers. We appreciate Senator Tillis’s hard work on The Ensuring Fair Access to Banking Act of 2025, which admirably seeks to remedy these concerns while still allowing banks to make risk-based business decisions. We are pleased that many of our Fair Access Principles were incorporated into the legislation, including a strong federal preemption provision, which would prevent banks from being forced to comply with multiple state laws that often conflict with each other and federal BSA/AML rules. BPI will continue to work with leaders in Congress and the Administration to ensure all Americans have fair access to the banking services they depend on.”
“Americans should never be denied access to financial services for exercising their First Amendment rights,” said Summer Mersinger, CEO, Blockchain Association. “Yet, we’ve seen this troubling “debanking” trend impact individuals and organizations across the political spectrum — including those in the digital asset industry. Blockchain Association has long championed efforts to end this discriminatory practice and ensure that the financial system treats lawful businesses and individuals fairly. While recent regulatory efforts to end this pernicious practice are a good start, we look forward to working with Senator Tillis and other lawmakers to codify equal banking access protections for all Americans into law.”
“The Digital Chamber is proud to support Senator Tillis’ Ensuring Fair Access to Banking Act, which would codify a national standard to ensure lawful blockchain and digital asset innovators cannot be debanked based on arbitrary or ideological risk classifications,” said Cordy Carbone, CEO, The Digital Chamber. “Every legal business deserves access to banking – full stop. The bill strengthens transparency, eliminates reputational risk as a supervisory tool, and establishes a clear standard for fair access. These reforms are not just about digital assets, but about preserving America’s commitment to due process, financial inclusion, and innovation. Thank you to Senator Tillis for his leadership and we look forward to the bill’s eventual passage.”
“Over the last decade, many different groups have been subject to waves of politically-motivated debanking,” said Nic Carter, Founding Partner, Castle Island Ventures. “It’s clear that for this to end, a permanent legislative solution must be sought. Chiefly responsible are the inappropriate usage of reputational risk in supervision as well as a lack of transparency from financial regulatory agencies. This legislation tackles those issues while carefully retaining banks’ freedom to serve clients as they see fit. It’s the best solution I’ve seen to the problem and I’m very excited to see Senator Tillis introduce it.”
Background:
Everyday Americans and businesses alike rely on basic banking services for nearly every aspect of their lives and work. During the Obama Administration, government officials and financial regulators initiated Operation Choke Point, which sought to cut off politically disfavored industries like firearms, ammunition, and tobacco retailers, among others, from basic banking services, in an intentional effort to cripple their ability to operate. More recently, the Biden Administration ran a similar playbook that led to widespread de-banking of digital asset companies and service providers.
Just like businesses, Americans rely on access to their bank accounts every day in our increasingly digital economy. Unfortunately, individuals have also been victims of discriminatory banking from volunteers at pro-life organizations, prominent conservative activists, and even President Trump himself.
The Ensuring Fair Access to Banking Act addresses these longstanding issues by creating a strong federal fair access standard to ensures that no American or lawful business is denied banking services for political or ideological reasons. It replaces the current patchwork of state laws with a uniform national framework, while preserving necessary safeguards for financial institutions to manage risk and maintain safety and soundness. The bill also reforms the supervisory process to eliminate “reputational risk” as a regulatory factor and prevent politicized actions by federal financial regulators. It increases transparency and accountability into the examination process by allowing select Members of Congress to request confidential supervisory information, placing the Federal Reserve’s Inspector General under Senate confirmation, and creating an independent Inspector General within the Treasury Department. Finally, the legislation modernizes outdated anti–money laundering reporting thresholds to reduce unnecessary burdens on banks and small businesses while maintaining critical protections against illicit activity.
Full text of the discussion draft is available HERE.
A section-by-section summary is available HERE.
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