Sponsors (27)
Abolishes the Federal Insurance Office, moves its statutory references/functions to the Treasury Secretary, and removes FIO from multiple FSOC roles and information lists.
Official title: To eliminate the Federal Insurance Office of the Department of the Treasury, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 23, 2025 by Troy Downing · Last progress January 23, 2025
The bill centralizes and simplifies federal oversight of insurance under the Treasury—delivering modest administrative savings and clearer chains of authority—but at the cost of losing a dedicated insurance-focused office, reducing specialized expertise, representation, and potentially weakening oversight and transparency around insurance systemic risk.
State and federal regulators gain a clearer, consolidated authority and a single Treasury point of contact for initiating and consulting on insurance-related systemic-risk processes, which can speed decision-making and simplify interagency coordination.
Folding FIO functions into existing Treasury offices and replacing FIO references with the Secretary of the Treasury can streamline federal organization and simplify interagency coordination for insurance policy issues.
Taxpayers receive modest federal administrative savings from eliminating the standalone FIO and its Director position.
Consumers, state regulators, and the public may face weaker oversight of insurance-related systemic risks because removing the dedicated FIO and its explicit role in FSOC reduces direct insurance expertise and input into systemic-risk decisions.
States, consumers, and insurers lose a dedicated federal office that coordinated insurance policy, monitored regulation, and advocated for consumer protections, reducing insurance-focused representation at the federal level.
Insurance stakeholders lose an explicit statutory seat and affirmative approval rights in some FSOC systemic-risk actions, diminishing independent insurance-focused input and creating legal/advocacy uncertainty about the federal role.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Eliminates the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) inside the Department of the Treasury, removes the statutory provision establishing the FIO and its Director, and shifts several statutory references and some operational roles from the FIO to the Secretary of the Treasury. The bill also removes the FIO from numerous Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) information‑sharing, consultation, and voting constructs and narrows when certain systemic‑risk recommendations may be initiated to the Board of Governors only.