U.S. Representative In 1966,
Richard Nixon persuaded Riegle to return to Michigan to run for Congress. Riegle was then 28 years old and considered to be a moderate Republican. Nixon attended an early campaign fundraiser, and talked up Riegle's prospects to reporters. In 1973 Riegle was one of the co-sponsors of H.R. 8163, a bill to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex or marital status in the granting of credit, also known as the
Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Sponsored by Congresswoman
Bella Abzug, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act was passed by the House and the Senate in 1974 and was signed into law by President
Gerald Ford on October 28, 1974. In 1972, Riegle authored a best-selling book,
O Congress (), with Trevor Armbrister. The book provides an inside look at the workings of Congress, Riegle's opposition to the Vietnam War, and his break with the Nixon White House.
U.S. Senator Riegle did not run for reelection to the House in 1976, but announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate to succeed retiring Senator
Philip Hart and defeated Michigan Secretary of State
Richard H. Austin and fellow Congressman
James G. O'Hara in the Democratic primary. He defeated Republican Congressman
Marvin L. Esch in the general election. On December 30, 1976, before Riegle's term was set to begin, he was appointed early by Governor
William Milliken due to the death of Senator Hart for the term ending January 3, 1977. He was reelected in
1982 and
1988. Riegle's 1988 election was the largest Democratic margin of victory in the state's history until being surpassed by
Carl Levin's election victory in
2008. Riegle did not seek re-election in
1994. He served as chairman of the
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs from 1989 to 1995. Riegle also served on the
Senate Committee on Finance, where he served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health for Families and the Uninsured; the
Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, where he served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse; the
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where he served as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Science and Space; and was a member of the
Senate Committee on Budget from 1979 to 1995. In the area of banking reform, Riegle led the efforts to enact the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (FDICIA), which preserved the ability of the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect depositors and reformed the way banks are run and regulated. The FDICIA also restricted the "too big to fail policy", strengthened regulation of foreign banks in the U.S., and expanded disclosure requirements for banks to consumers. Riegle also led the effort to create a system of community development banks. The Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 established the
Community Development Financial Institutions Fund to seed and support financial institutions dedicated to supporting community development. The legislation also provided increased consumer protections for high rate home equity loans, contained measures to increase credit availability to small businesses, streamline the regulation of depository institutions, and reform the
National Flood Insurance Program. The
Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 eliminated restrictions on interstate banking by permitting bank holding companies to acquire banks in any state, permitted banks to merge across state lines unless states opt-out, and reduced the competitive advantages that foreign banks had in the U.S. market over U.S. banks. In 1994, Riegle led an investigation of the illnesses being experienced by veterans of the
Gulf War, using the jurisdiction of the Senate Banking Committee over "dual use" exports—materials and technology that could be converted to military use. The resulting investigative report to the Senate detailed at least three occasions on which U.S. military forces came into contact with
chemical warfare agents that may have led to the development of
Gulf War syndrome and that at least some of those biological agents (weapons of mass destruction) had been provided to
Saddam Hussein by the U.S. Commonly referred to as the Riegle Report to the U.S. Senate, the report called for further government investigation and recourse for war veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome. In his first action as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Riegle led the efforts to reform the savings and loan industry, which resulted in the
Financial Institutions Recovery, Reform, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA). The toughest financial reform bill in 50 years, FIRREA ended the abuses and reformed the savings and loan industry. FIRREA put controls on state-chartered thrifts, stopped excessive risk taking by savings and loans, limited brokered deposits, banned
junk bond investments, and set new capital requirements for
savings and loans. Riegle was one of the
Keating Five, a group of senators who in 1989 were accused of improperly intervening in 1987 on behalf of
Charles Keating, chairman of the
Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of a regulatory investigation by the
Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB). The FHLBB subsequently backed off taking action against Lincoln. Along with other members of the Keating Five, Riegle was never charged with any actual crime in connection with his involvement, but was criticized for having acted improperly. ==Later life and death==