Missouri state politics

In 1998, Luetkemeyer was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives from the 115th Legislative District.^[3] As a state representative, Luetkemeyer chaired the Financial Services Committee and the House Republican Caucus and co-sponsored a statewide constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman, which was approved by 71% of Missouri voters in 2004. He also worked on legislation to allow Missourians to carry concealed firearms, ban partial-birth abortions, and reform worker compensation laws. He also supported deregulation of the financial industry—specifically the lending industry.

In 2004, Luetkemeyer did not seek reelection but instead was one of seven Republicans who ran for state treasurer. He finished second in the Republican primary, losing to Sarah Steelman, who won the general election.

In 2005, Governor Matt Blunt appointed Luetkemeyer Missouri Tourism Director, a post he held until he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. One of his projects was working with Blunt and Lt. Governor Peter Kinder to start the Tour of Missouri, a cycling event modeled on the Tour de France.

Elections

Tenure

On October 23, 2013, Luetkemeyer introduced H.R. 3329; 113th Congress to enhance the ability of community financial institutions to foster economic growth and serve their communities, boost small businesses, and increase individual savings.^[5] The bill would direct the Federal Reserve to revise certain regulations related to small bank holding companies (BHCs).^[6][7] Current regulations allow BHCs with assets of less than $500 million that satisfy other tests to incur higher amounts of debt than larger institutions in order to acquire other banks.^[6] H.R. 3329 would apply the less stringent standard to more BHCs by raising the asset limit to $1 billion and allow savings and loan holding companies to qualify.^[6]

On June 26, 2014, Luetkemeyer introduced H.R.4986, which would end the controversial Operation Choke Point,^[8] which was designed to limit the activities of money launderers but had come under criticism for alleged abuse.^[9] On November 20, 2014, in a further effort to end Operation Choke Point, he introduced additional legislation that would require federal banking agencies to put in writing any suggestion or order to terminate a customer's banking account.^[10][11]

In December 2020, Luetkemeyer was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated^[12] incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.^[13][14][15]

In October 2022, Politico reported that Luetkemeyer criticized some US-based financial executives attending the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit, saying that "American executives attending an event with the CCP's so-called enforcer makes a person question whether human rights are a real concern," in reference to Chief Executive John Lee.^[16]

Committee assignments

For the 118th Congress:^[17]

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy
  • Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance
  • Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance and International Financial Institutions (Chair)
• Committee on Small Business
  • Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access
  • Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Supply Chains
• Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party

Caucus memberships

• Republican Study Committee^[18]
• Congressional Constitution Caucus^[19]
• Congressional Western Caucus^[20]