Jeb Hensarling

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, at this time I proudly yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan), the distinguished Speaker of the House.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous materials on the bill, H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Kustoff), a new member of our committee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer), a real leader on our committee and chairman of the Financial Institution and Consumer Credit Subcommittee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce), who is the chairman of the Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga), who is a leader on our Capital Markets, Securities, and Investments Subcommittee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield the gentleman from Michigan an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr), who is the chairman of the Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), the chairman of our Small Business Committee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Tenney), another new member of the committee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I am now very happy to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd), a huge fighter for freedom and a fighter against Federal price controls.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy), the chairman of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, to better balance the time, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, at this time I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin), a new member of our committee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I am happy to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mooney), another new member of our committee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner), who is a fighter on our committee. She is the chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, it has been 7 years since the Dodd-Frank Act was passed, a monumental triumph of ideology over compassion and common sense. All of the promises of Dodd-Frank were broken. They promised us it would lift the economy, Mr. Chairman, but, instead, we are still stymied in the weakest, slowest recovery in the postwar era. They promised us that it would end too big to fail, but, instead, it cynically codified too-big-to-fail banks in the law and backed it up with a taxpayer bailout fund. It promised us, Mr. Chairman--they promised us that it would lead to a more stable economy, but, instead, the big banks are bigger. The small banks are fewer. We are losing a community bank or credit union a day. Our corporate bond market, a key component of financing of jobs, historic levels of volatility and illiquidity. They promised us, Mr. Chairman, that it would help the consumer, but, instead, we see free checking cut in half at banks, bank fees are up. The ranks of the unbanked have increased. For many creditworthy borrowers, they are paying $500 more for an auto loan. Have you tried getting a mortgage recently? They are harder to come by and cost hundreds of dollars more to close. Every promise of Dodd-Frank has been broken. And, Mr. Chairman, we hear about it every day. I heard from Julieann, a banker in Massachusetts, and she wrote, `` `We have experienced a spike in loan declines to women,' for their investigation identified that women attempting to buy the family home to settle their divorce and stabilize their family were being declined at a high rate due to the Dodd-Frank Qualified Mortgage rules. . . .'' Dodd-Frank is hurting recently divorced women. I heard from Allen in New Hampshire who talked about his need for a new car, but he couldn't find a loan from a bank, and he said: But for my local dealer's efforts on my behalf, there is no doubt I would not be driving my current car, and this was a desperate situation, for I am the sole income earner for my family. My wife is ill, and we have two young children in school. After my old vehicle broke down, I needed to find reliable, replacement transportation so that I could get to work and continue to provide for my family. Please ensure that financing car and truck dealerships are not stymied by Dodd-Frank's CFPB. I heard from Maxine in Salt Lake City, who talked about her company. She said: Last February, we were awarded a major catering contract for all food services in the new performing arts center. The new contract will require us to make a major investment in equipment in small wares. We will be able to hire 50 additional staff. Unfortunately, red tape got in the way, turned what should have been a golden opportunity into an unbelievable headache. Three banks informed us that our rating, according to new bank regulations imposed by Dodd- Frank, disqualified us from consideration. Mr. Chairman, we have letter after letter, email after email, showing how Dodd-Frank is harming working families, harming small businesses, crushing community banks. Fortunately, Mr. Chairman, there is a better, smarter way, and it is called the Financial CHOICE Act. It is going to create hope and opportunity for investors and consumers, and entrepreneurs, and it stands for economic growth for all, but bank bailouts for none. Contrary to Dodd-Frank, and what every Democrat will come here today--my friends on the other side of the aisle--and defend, we will end bank bailouts once and for all. We will replace bailout with bankruptcy. We will replace economic stagnation with a growing healthy economy. We will ensure that there will finally be pay increases, wage increases for working Americans who haven't seen a pay increase since Dodd-Frank became law. We will replace Washington micromanagement with market discipline. We will ensure that we replace taxpayer money with private money because for every bank who will have a 10 percent simple leverage ratio, which is analogous to having a private insurance policy against bailout, we will let them have that Dodd-Frank off-ramp, and that is so important. But, Mr. Chairman, we are also going to hold Wall Street accountable with the toughest penalties that they have seen, and no more bailouts. Perhaps that is one of the reasons they oppose the Financial CHOICE Act and support the status quo of Dodd-Frank. We will make sure that there is needed regulatory relief for our small banks and credit unions, because it is our small banks who loan to our small businesses, that create the job engine of America, and make sure that the American Dream is not a pipe dream; but, instead, it is a dream and a vision where we will only be limited by our imagination. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chair, I would like to thank both gentlemen for their steadfast leadership on this issue. Basic economics tell us that when government fixes market prices, consumer welfare suffers. So it is not a surprise that researchers have found that the Durbin amendment resulted in a net loss of perhaps $25 billion for consumers. But in a larger sense, what we have is a legal dispute between two parties. This is an issue that belongs in the courts, not Congress, which is why we sought to repeal the Durbin amendment. I remain hopeful that Congress will correct this mistake, and I will work towards that goal in the future.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I certainly thank the gentleman for yielding. I have had many opportunities in my career to come to this House floor and speak about topics of great importance, but few are as near and dear to my heart as is Scouting. So, one, I want to thank the gentleman from New York for his leadership and the gentleman from Texas for his leadership and keeping Scouting alive not only in their hearts, but in the heart of the House and in the hearts of so many young men in America today. Mr. Speaker, as I think about my own life, I think how terribly blessed I have been. I think about the molders of my character, and, certainly, I thank the Lord for the blessing of being able to worship Him in the land of the free. And I think about the impact my church has had upon my life. I think how blessed I am to have parents like Charles and Ann Hensarling, who raised me in College Station, Texas, and how proud I am to be my mother's son and how proud I was to be my late father's son. But I also think about what Scouting meant as a molder of my character. Mr. Speaker, that is not what originally drew me to Scouting. I was originally drawn to the fun of it, to the high adventure, to the camping trips, to those Capture the Flag games that went on to the wee hours of the morning. Little did I know how long one could actually hunt for a snipe back in the early days of my Scouting career. And so I was drawn to Indian lore and canoeing and camping, and that was so exciting to me. So when I think about my Scouting career, Mr. Speaker, I think about, you know, the fun I had. I think about the friendships. There are people I haven't seen for decades, but, you know, I think about a friend by the name of Dennis Gary, whom I haven't seen in decades. But if I saw him tomorrow, I would know him because I would know him through his heart, because we experienced Scouting together, and so many others. I think about the many practical things I learned in my Scouting career. I hope I never fall into a hole and break an arm, but if I did, even today at my ripe old age, I could still tie a one-handed bowline. I still know how to do that. I hope I am never lost in the forest for days on end, but, you know, Mr. Speaker, I know that, as distasteful as it would be, I could survive off of cattail root and dandelion leaves because that is what Scouting taught me. So Scouting is about fun; it is about friendship; but it was about practical things that I learned. Mr. Speaker, there is even a far more important aspect to Scouting, and that is values, the values that we learned. So even today, as a Member of Congress, I know how important it is to be prepared, to be prepared before I come to this House floor and try to convince fellow Members of this august body on actions that we should take in the life of a great nation. As we deal with so many issues about the lives of a great nation, I also remember, for example, somebody who wasn't in the Boy Scouts--my wife. I know back in Dallas, Texas, almost every week of her life she is driving some indigent cancer patient to their treatments. I reflected that, although as Members of Congress we deal with matters of great importance that impact millions and millions of people, I have got to tell you, my wife, back in Dallas, Texas, does a good turn daily. It reminds me that I learned in Scouting how important it is to help one human life at a time and to do a good turn daily. When I look upon my colleagues here in Congress today, I think about a certain colleague, and I am not going to mention his name, but a colleague who at one time wasn't quite keeping up with his diet. He wasn't quite keeping up with his exercise. Although he had young children, he had a heart attack, and we almost lost this colleague, but he came back. It is a reminder how important it is to keep ourselves physically strong for our children, for our parents, for our colleagues, and for our friends. That is something I learned in Scouting, Mr. Speaker. I think about another friend whose wife almost was lost when she was diagnosed with a very serious form of cancer, stage IV. But there was an oncologist here in this area, in the Washington area, who was on the cutting edge of cancer research that saved her life, and she was--the percentages against her, there was a 99 percent chance she wouldn't make it, but she did because somebody decided to be mentally awake. That is something else I learned in Scouting, Mr. Speaker, how important it is to be mentally awake. And one day, when I leave this institution, some of the finest people I have ever met in life I know will have served in the United States of House of Representatives, but, unfortunately, a couple of them represent the worst. A couple of them have turned in their pin stripes for prison stripes because somehow they lost their way. In Scouting, we are taught to orient a map with a physical compass, but we are also taught to orient the map of life with a moral compass. So I learned in Scouting how important it was to be morally straight, to have that internal compass to guide us at all times. So I will admit, I am not proud of the fact, Mr. Speaker, but you know what? The words, over the years, occasionally they are a little rusty to me. I don't quite recite them as I once did. I don't always recite the words: ``On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to my God and my country, to obey the Scout Law, to help others at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.'' So, yes, Mr. Speaker, occasionally the words are a little rusty, but the principles are as alive to me today as they were almost half a century ago when I first entered Scouting and followed that career all the way up to Eagle Scout, something I am so, so very proud of today. So, Mr. Speaker, I hope anybody who is watching the proceedings at this time will, again, understand how valuable Scouting is to all of us. It is not just important to my own personal life. It is important to the life of a great nation. Our first President, the Father of our Country, said that you cannot have a free society which is not a moral society. Scouting helps make certain we have a moral society. So I think of the fun, I think of the friendship, I think of the lessons, but, most importantly, I think about that moral compass for the map of life that has guided me and, with Scouting to come in the future, will guide the life of this great Nation. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Dallas for his leadership, I thank him for his friendship, I thank him for all he means for Scouting, and I thank him for yielding to me.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, a very destructive storm system moved across my home State of Texas, the Midwest, and the Southeast, killing 15 of our fellow citizens and destroying whole communities in its wake. In Van Zandt County in the Fifth Congressional District of Texas, which I have the privilege to represent, four constituents lost their lives in a series of four violent tornadoes that shattered homes, shattered lives, and devastated neighbors in the Fifth District and the Fourth District of Texas. These storms also tragically killed seven people in Washington, Carroll, and Madison Counties in Arkansas; two people in Rankin and Holmes Counties in Mississippi; one person in Nashville, Tennessee; and one person from Billings, Missouri. Many more, Mr. Speaker, have been hospitalized. Joining me here today are some of the Members whose communities were affected: Congressman Womack and Congressman Crawford of Arkansas, Congressman Harper of Mississippi, Congressman Thompson of Mississippi, Congressman Cooper of Tennessee, Congressman Long of Missouri, and my fellow Texan, Congressman John Ratcliffe--again, Mr. Speaker, all who represent communities that were tragically affected. Mr. Speaker, our citizens who were lost have left a void in their families and left a void in their communities. Our hearts are heavy. Our prayers are sincere for the loved ones they leave behind and for those who recover from their wounds. For many of us, in our faith, there is a time to mourn. Mr. Speaker, now is the time to mourn. But as we have, in our faith, a time to mourn, we also have faith, Mr. Speaker, that one day our citizens will heal and they will heal and rebuild their communities as well. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I would ask the House to help us in honoring those who lost their lives in these deadly storms and the families and loved ones they leave behind by joining us in observing a moment of silence.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Madam Speaker, first, I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan, not only for yielding but, more importantly, for his leadership in helping improve our capital markets and our economy here. I want to thank all of the Republican and Democrat cosponsors of H.R. 1219, particularly our vice chairman of the full committee Mr. McHenry of North Carolina, for his leadership and also Ms. Velazquez on the other side of the aisle for her leadership on this issue as well. Both of these colleagues are senior members of the committee which I have the honor of chairing. Madam Speaker, we know that while optimism and confidence in our economy are up considerably over the last few months, our Nation still has a way to go to experience the robust economic growth the American people have experienced in the past of which they also deserve. One obvious reason that the economy continues to limp along is bureaucratic burdens imposed by Washington's top-down regulations on America's small businesses on Main Street. I got a message from a gentleman by the name of Larry, a small- business owner in Mabank, Texas, who I have the privilege of representing here in Congress, and he summed it up fairly well. He said: ``So many businesses have to deal with regulations and taxes that didn't exist a few years ago. It is especially hard on smaller businesses. While large companies have their own staff of attorneys and the capital to comply with regulations, small businesses don't.'' So, Madam Speaker, as my colleagues on the Financial Services Committee know all too well, because we have had countless witnesses before our committee to attest to such, Washington has inflicted upon Main Street America a complex set of burdensome and expensive and confusing regulations. Many were written, again, with the largest public companies in mind, but they burden small companies and hurt their ability to access capital. That is exactly what Larry of Mabank, Texas, has told me, and I believe it. So, clearly, Congress should work, preferably on a bipartisan basis, to level the playing field while maintaining fair and efficient capital markets, protecting investors, and allowing small companies the chance to succeed. We can make progress on these goals today by advancing this bipartisan bill, the Supporting America's Innovators Act. This bill was approved by the Financial Services Committee with the overwhelming support of Republicans and Democrats. The vote in committee was 54-2. In addition, a similar bill passed the House last year overwhelmingly on a bipartisan basis. Madam Speaker, these vote totals demonstrate that just about everyone--Republican and Democrat--agrees that this commonsense legislation will indeed help grow our economy. H.R. 1219 specifically increases the limits on the number of individuals from 100 to 250 who invest in certain venture capital funds before those funds are forced to register with the SEC as ``investment companies.'' This change would permit angel and venture funds to better help accredited investors invest in small-business startups. These early stage investors play a vital role in helping many small businesses get their start. In 2015, angel investors deployed nearly $25 billion to 71,000 different startups across our Nation. In the first quarter of 2017, venture capital invested more than $16 billion in almost 1,800 startups. If anyone here, for some reason, doubts the impact these investors can have on our Nation's economic growth, let me remind them that companies such as Amazon, Costco, Google, Facebook, and Starbucks were all first funded by angel investors. Let's also remember, Madam Speaker, that almost half of the people who work in this country own or work for small businesses. They create nearly historically two-thirds of the new jobs in America. So clearly our economy works better for working Americans when small businesses thrive and have access to capital and credit they need to innovate, expand, and create jobs. The Supporting America's Innovators Act modernizes a regulation to enhance the ability for startups and small businesses to receive critical funding and capital from the private markets and, in particular, angel investors and venture capital. Undoubtedly it will help today's small-business startups become the next great American entrepreneurial success story and, in doing so, help invigorate economic growth and help create more American jobs. I urge the adoption of H.R. 1219.