Bill ending waits for checks to clear heads to President

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Check cashing relief is on the way for American Samoa.

KHJ Washington correspondent Matt Kaye reports, the House and Senate have now passed banking regulatory relief that also ends long wait times for checks to clear in American Samoa and the Northern Marianas…

The check clearing provision passed in the House in June…but the House’s roll-back of “Dodd Frank” Great Recession banking reforms died amid differences with the Senate.

But the Senate version like the House, included a provision by American Samoa’s Aumua Amata Radewagen to reduce check clearing wait times in the territory and the NMI from the current 30-days to, at most, 5-business days.

And the House to save time, has now approved the Senate measure, sending it to President Trump for his likely signature.

Congresswoman Radewagen complained last year that 30-days is too long to wait to clear checks and has caused “hardship” for many in American Samoa who count on income in a timely manner.

But the question was how Radewagen’s at first, freestanding bill could pass in the larger measure.
House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling was demanding a negotiation with the Senate on the House version, but finally relented this week, clearing the way for the final House vote.

Amata’s Office pointed out earlier, the biggest hurdle was getting the Congresswoman’s measure through the Senate, increasing its chances for final approval.

The White House supports the bill and President Trump plans to sign it, ending a long wait for relief from an oversight in American law, which places a hold on checks cashed in American Samoa and the NMI, but not the states.