H.R. 6556 · 119th Congress

Failing Bank Acquisition Fairness Act

Introduced on Dec 10, 2025 by Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA-8). One cosponsor. Latest action (Jul 15, 2026): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
Dec 10, 2025
Cosponsors
1
0 from the other party
Policy area
Finance and Financial Sector
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To prohibit the use of certain concentration limit exceptions with respect to mergers involving a failed bank unless the applicable agency determines such use is necessary to prevent significant economic disruption or significant adverse effects on financial stability, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Administrative law and regulatory procedures
  • Bank accounts, deposits, capital
  • Banking and financial institutions regulation
  • Corporate finance and management
  • Economic performance and conditions
  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
  • Financial crises and stabilization
  • Performance measurement

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Dec 10, 2025). Public domain.

Failing Bank Acquisition Fairness Act

This bill tightens restrictions on certain waivers granted by federal financial regulators to companies that acquire insured depository institutions. Under current law, a regulator may not approve an acquisition if it would result in an institution exceeding a set concentration limit (i.e., controlling more than 10% of total insured U.S. deposits). This may be waived if one or more of the institutions involved is in default or in danger of default or if the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is providing certain assistance.

In addition to these requirements, the bill requires the regulator to determine that (1) the merger is necessary to prevent significant economic disruption or financial instability, and (2) FDIC has not received a qualified bid from a company not subject to this concentration limit.

The bill also provides capitalization and management standards for qualified bids.

Regulators that waive these concentration limits must report to Congress on the circumstances and justification of the waiver.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Stephen F. LynchD-MA-8Sponsor

Democrats · 1

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Dec 10, 2025Introduced in House
  2. Dec 10, 2025Introduced in House
  3. Dec 10, 2025 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
  4. Dec 16, 2025 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  5. Dec 17, 2025 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  6. Dec 17, 2025 · HouseOrdered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 51 - 0.
  7. Feb 2, 2026Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Financial Services. H. Rept. 119-475.
  8. Feb 2, 2026 · HouseReported (Amended) by the Committee on Financial Services. H. Rept. 119-475.
  9. Feb 2, 2026 · HousePlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 406.
  10. Jul 14, 2026 · HouseMr. Hill (AR) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
  11. Jul 14, 2026 · HouseConsidered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H4438-4441)
  12. Jul 14, 2026 · HouseDEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 6556.
  13. Jul 14, 2026Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
  14. Jul 14, 2026 · HouseOn motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4438-4440)
  15. Jul 14, 2026 · HouseMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  16. Jul 15, 2026 · SenateReceived in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY BANKERS OF AMERICA3 reports
    $4.3M reported (all issues)
  2. Americans for Financial Reform1 report
    $150K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.