(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) Nineteen U.S. senators are urging the Trump administration and the Federal Reserve to crack down on financial institutions that are discriminating against law-abiding businesses in Second Amendment-related industries.
Sens. Kevin Cramer, R-ND, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are leading the charge.
On Tuesday, the senators released a letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve; and Jovita Carranza, administrator of the Small Business Administration.
The senators sounded the alarm about large banks using “market dominance” to achieve de facto gun control..
But that’s not all. Politically motivated banks such as Citibank, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and others are also targeting businesses in the oil and gas, coal and private corrections industries.
“A vocal but small minority has weaponized federally-backed banks against politically disfavored businesses that operate in good faith and compliance with the law, by denying them financial services based on political reasons that have nothing to do with creditworthiness,” the senators wrote.
Financial discrimination against private businesses for political purposes exploded under the Obama administration’s “Operation Choke Point,” which was designed to starve dozens of industries—particularly firearms and ammunition—from loans, credit and financial services.
Despite the change in administrations, top banks have continued to target businesses for political reasons, often at the behest of carrot-and-stick Democrats.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-NY, for example, has been open about pressuring banks to achieve left-wing agenda items that could never pass Congress.
“Huge update: JP Morgan & Wells Fargo have announced that they will no longer fund private prisons. How did this happen? Through organizing people & public pressure!” she tweeted last year.
In 2018, Citibank announced it would deny financial services to AR-15 manufacturers, and some top credit card companies alluded to flagging gun purchases that would effectively create a database of gun owners.
Many other examples exist, but the 19 Senators are intent on using the trillions of taxpayer dollars in Wuhan virus-related stimulus funds as leverage against the banks.
“We find it extremely disconcerting that, while the vast majority of SBA program lenders do not promote financial discrimination policies, many of the nation’s largest institutions currently do,” the Senators said.
