After two years of negotiations, the U.S. and Iran solidified an agreement in September to swap prisoners and allow Iran to access $6 billion in frozen assets. The deal was met with some support — proof that adversarial countries can reach an agreement — but also a fair amount of skepticism due to perceived enabling of an antagonistic country. For its part, the White House defended the move as a step toward reuniting families. “The president is making five families whole again,” a White House official told reporters following the official swap of the five American prisoners, plus two family…

Lawmakers and stakeholders within the business industry are at odds over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule to collect data on small business loan recipients. Proponents of the rule argue that it will allow for more equitable lending practices, while opponents argue that the rule constitutes a privacy breach and administrative burden. The CFPB’s 1071 rule specifically requires financial institutions to submit information about the race, ethnicity and gender of small business loan recipients. It also requires information on lending decisions and the price of credit. The bureau argued that greater data collection “will give investors and lenders more…