Jeb Hensarling

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Rothfus).

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams).

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time remains?

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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 insert extraneous materials on the bill (H.R. 5461) to require the Secretary of the Treasury to submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees on the estimated total assets under direct or indirect control by certain senior Iranian leaders and other figures, and for other purposes.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the Islamic Republic of Iran is identified as both the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism and a country of primary money laundering concern by the United States. So the American people rightfully question the wisdom behind the Obama administration's decision to hand Iran $1.7 billion in cash as ransom for the release of several hostages earlier this year. There are a lot of questions the American people still have about this cash payment and a lot of questions the Obama administration has not answered, but there are at least three things that we do already know: Number one, we know that cash is the preferred currency of terrorists; Number two, we know the Obama administration's payment to Iran was structured in such a way that it makes it easy for Iran to move that money anywhere it wants for any purpose it wants; and Three, we know that much of Iran's terror activity is fueled by the vast sums of personal wealth acquired by its senior political and military leaders. Mr. Chairman, Iran's economy is characterized by high levels of official corruption and substantial involvement of its security forces, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and that nation's business sector. Many members of Iran's senior political and military leadership have acquired significant personal and institutional wealth by using their positions to secure control over major portions of the Iranian national economy. In fact, it is estimated that Iran's top political and military leaders control one-third--one-third--of Iran's economy through personal foundations in which money from corruption is funneled. Because of this volatile mix of terrorist financing, corruption, and wealth, it is vitally important for the United States to clearly understand the assets held by Iran's powerful military and political elite. That is the goal of this bipartisan bill that we are discussing today offered by my colleague, the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Poliquin). This bill, the Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act, would require the Treasury Secretary to develop and post online a list estimating the funds and assets held by senior Iranian political and military leaders. Along with this estimate would be a description of how these officials acquired these assets and how these assets are being deployed. The report would be posted on the Treasury Department's Web site in English, but also translated into the three main languages used by the Iranian people so that the people of Iran may better understand the nature of their economy and how corruption is harming their fellow citizens. Mr. Chairman, under this bill, the report would also be in a form that is easily understandable and accessible to those in the financial or business sector who might be concerned about inadvertently doing business with an Iranian entity still covered by remaining sanctions. The Iranian Government's tolerance of corruption limits realistic opportunities for foreign and domestic investment, particularly given the significant involvement of its Revolutionary Guard in many sectors of the economy. This gives the Revolutionary Guard and its leaders vast amounts of funding to support terrorism at a time when the average Iranian citizen earns about $15,000 a year. The report required under the Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act would cover about 80 individuals, including Iran's Supreme Leader, President, the 12 members of Iran's Council of Guardians, the 42 members of its Expediency Council, and roughly two dozen senior military leaders. As I mentioned, the bill requires an estimate of the funds and assets held by those individuals, not a precise amount. Further, the proposal allows Treasury to separately furnish any sensitive information to Congress in a classified form. Finally, the bill permits the administration to prepare the reports using a wide variety of publicly available and credible information, including commercial databases. Developing and keeping a current estimate of the funds and assets held by top political and military leaders in Iran will also help financial institutions and private businesses comply with money laundering laws and also help them more carefully choose with whom they do business. Just last week, the U.S. State Department said it couldn't rule out the possibility that President Obama's nuclear deal has emboldened Iran into becoming more confrontational with the United States. Indeed, as the State Department spokesman admitted last week, there are ``disturbing trends'' when it comes to Iran. Since the President's cash ransom was delivered to the ayatollahs, Iran has taken more hostages, Mr. Chairman. It has stepped up its harassment of the U.S. military in the region and has started building a $10 billion nuclear plant with the help of Russia. Clearly, we need to know as much as we possibly can about how Iran is financing terrorism. We need to make sure financial institutions and private businesses do not inadvertently become involved in money laundering and sponsorship of terrorism. Mr. Poliquin's bill has attracted bipartisan support in the Committee on Financial Services. It is common sense. Frankly, it should be on the suspension calendar. I am sorry we are having to take up time for it today. This should be common sense for all Members. It is a bill that will, again, help achieve commonsense goals as we fight financing of terrorism. I urge all Members to support the bill. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick), who is the chairman of the Terrorism Financing Task Force in our Financial Services Committee and a real leader in this area.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chair, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Poliquin), the author of the Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act and a real leader in our committee and in this Congress in the fight against terrorist financing.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pittenger), vice chairman of our Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill).

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

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton).

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I am just curious where this amendment was during the bipartisan process to bring H.R. 5424 to the floor. I am curious where it was in our committee deliberations. I am curious why it was never presented to the Rules Committee and we are just seeing it now. Again, H.R. 5424, the Investment Advisers Modernization Act, is a bipartisan piece of legislation to make sure our small businesses, entrepreneurs, and innovators can access capital. It passed the committee 49-12. More than half of the Democrats supported it. Now we have a motion to recommit that moves it in the complete opposite direction--one more disclosure, disclaimer, more job-killing regulations to be put upon those who are trying to fund our small businesses, to try to help the working poor better themselves, to try to help improve the paychecks and the well-being of middle-income America. It is time to reject the motion to recommit. Let's work on a bipartisan basis. Let's pass H.R. 5424. Vote down the motion to recommit. Vote for the bipartisan bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of a point of order.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5424. I want to thank the gentleman from Virginia for his leadership and the gentleman from Illinois as well. This is a strong, bipartisan bill out of the House Financial Services Committee having passed on a vote of 47-12, which means 80 percent of the members of the House Financial Services Committee, including over half of the Democrats, support this commonsense, pro-growth, pro-jobs legislation. Mr. Speaker, as children--including my own--all across this Nation go back to school, we would be negligent if we didn't acknowledge the latest report card that Americans received on our economy less than 2 weeks ago. The report card shows our economy growing at a measly 1.1 percent, roughly one-third of its normal growth. In other words, it has received a failing grade, Mr. Speaker. One economics writer has said the report suggests ``the economy could be on the brink of recession.'' Americans deserve better. Hardworking Americans do deserve better. Again, economic growth has been far stronger in our country. The economy grew on an average of 3.7 percent during every other recovery in the postwar era. But growth has averaged nearly 2 percent in the last 7 years, and even worse, about 1 percent so far this year. It is just more evidence that the economy is not working for working Americans. They have seen their paycheck shrink, and they have seen their wages stagnate. Seven years after recession ended, nearly 14 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed. I am confident that all of us--Republicans and Democrats alike--want this to change. We want to help Americans who are struggling, who are underemployed and unemployed. We have to lift the nearly 7 million additional Americans who have been thrown into poverty during these last 7 years. We must help them. We know--or should know--that nothing helps the poor, the unemployed, and the underemployed like economic growth. Growth means more jobs, more growth means higher average wages, more growth means less government borrowing, and growth enables Americans to achieve the dream of financial independence. But if we want to ignite growth and revive our struggling economy, the answer is not more debt, more spending, or more onerous regulations from Washington. Instead, we need more entrepreneurs, more innovation, and more small business expansion on Main Street. So at this time, when record levels of debt and Federal regulation hinder growth and slow our economy, it is critical for us to find bipartisan solutions--not always easy to come by--that will accelerate growth and get our economy back on track. Mr. Speaker, we have exactly that kind of bill before us today. Again, it is a bipartisan bill supported and sponsored by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Hurt), Mr. Vargas of California from the Democratic side of the aisle, Mr. Stivers of Ohio from the Republican side of the aisle, and Mr. Foster of Illinois from the Democratic side of the aisle. I have the honor of serving with all four of these gentlemen on the House Financial Services Committee, and I thank them for their bipartisan work on this bill. Again, this passed in our committee 47-12. Over half the Democrats on the committee support the bill--80 percent of the committee. There is no reason why every Member of the House shouldn't approve this bipartisan Investment Advisers Modernization Act because, Mr. Speaker, again, it is bipartisan, it is pragmatic, and it is commonsense. It simply updates portions of a 76-year-old law by updating regulations that have made it harder for the job growth engine of America--our small businesses--to access the capital they need to create jobs on Main Street. We know, again, that small businesses across the country are struggling to find investment and financing options that enable them to open their doors, hire workers, and succeed. They are struggling, again, because of a growing regulatory burden imposed by Washington, by a Washington-knows-best mentality. Witnesses have testified before our committee, Mr. Speaker, that there has been a serious decline in loans from banks to small businesses over the past few years, and our Nation has gone a decade--a decade--with no growth in the value of small business loans. It is not surprising that, during the second quarter of this year, one of every three small-business owners said they had to transfer personal assets to keep their businesses running, according to a recent report from Pepperdine University. This same report found that 50 percent of small-business owners said their growth opportunities are restricted by the current business financing environment. As a small-business owner, my hometown of Dallas wrote me recently: ``We have seen wave after wave of Federal regulations affecting our ability to grow.'' Another small business owner from the town of Chandler, in the Fifth District I have the privilege of representing, summed up the economic harm caused by Washington's regulatory burden this way: ``No one can keep up.'' In order for the economy to grow for small businesses to create jobs that Americans need, we have to remove unnecessary regulations that tie up private capital and cause economic uncertainty. We must put in their place policies that encourage investment, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit that makes America a beacon of opportunity for all. Again, Mr. Speaker, we have a bipartisan bill before us having passed 47-12, 80 percent of our committee having approved. It is a modest, but important, step in the right direction. But as one witness told us: It will go a long way towards facilitating capital formation while maintaining our commitment to investor protection. I urge all of my colleagues to support the bipartisan bill. By doing so, they will remove unnecessary burdens on our small businesses, and we will help grow not only the American economy but the Main Street economy as well. I thank Members on both sides of the aisle for their bipartisan work on this very, very strong bill. And I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his leadership and for yielding the time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I reserve a point of order.

Mr. HENSARLING

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. 2357, to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to revise Form S-3 so as to add listing and registration of a class of common equity securities on a national securities exchange as an additional basis for satisfying the requirements of General Instruction I.B.1. of such form and to remove such listing and registration as a requirement of General Instruction I.B.6. of such form.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, regrettably, we know that we continue to be mired in the slowest, weakest, and most tepid economic recovery in the history of the Republic, and our fellow citizens continue to suffer. The economy continues to not work for working people. Now, we hear a lot of happy talk coming out of the administration, and they throw statistics at us telling us how happy we should be with this economy. But the economy is limping along at 1.5 to 2 percent of economic growth when the historic norm is 3.5 percent; and if you can't grow America's economy, you cannot grow the family economy. So all this happy talk coming out of the administration, try to convince the 8 million Americans who don't have a job that this is a good economy. Try telling that to the 6 million Americans who want to work full time but only find part-time employment. Mr. Chairman, tell that to the 94 million Americans who are out of the workforce entirely. So many of them have just given up ever being able to find any type of gainful employment in this economy. Again, it is falling so far short of its potential. All across America, American families are worrying: How are they going to pay the bills? How are they going to pay the mortgage? How are they going to be able to pay their skyrocketing healthcare premiums under ObamaCare? We must--we must--get this economy moving again, but, Mr. Chairman, our great challenge is the job engine of America is broken, and the job engine is small business. One of the primary challenges for small business is they cannot access capital. Right now, bank lending to small businesses is at a 25-year low. Entrepreneurship, the launching of new business, and innovation, Mr. Chairman, is at a generational low. We have more small-business deaths than we do births in America today. This cannot be allowed to stand. That is why, Mr. Chairman, I am so happy that today the House Financial Services Committee is putting together a package of bills that will help unleash capital for our innovators, for our entrepreneurs, and for our small businesses. It is all part of the House Republican Better Way. We don't have to be stuck in this lackluster Obamanomics economy that is not working for working people. We can do better, and we must do better. So I am happy today that we will soon be voting on H.R. 2357, the Accelerating Access to Capital Act, sponsored by the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner), who has been a real leader in access to capital. This is a bill which simply amends a registration form with the Securities and Exchange Commission to eliminate unnecessary cost for small private companies. This overburdensome regulation that has nothing to do with consumer protection is strangling small businesses. We need to pass this bill, again, because the cost of securities registration is falling heaviest--heaviest--on our small companies. Another bill in this package, Mr. Chairman, is H.R. 4850, the Micro Offering Safe Harbor Act sponsored by the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer). This would give really small businesses and startups more flexibility to raise funds from existing relationships without having the added cost of having to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The third bill in this package is H.R. 4852, the Private Placement Improvement Act sponsored by the chairman of our Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett), and it helps the bipartisan JOBS Act reach its full potential by maintaining a clear and commonsense approach to regulations for private offerings. Again, it simply helps smaller companies raise capital. You cannot have the benefits of capitalism for American families without capital. I commend each of my colleagues on the House Financial Services Committee for authoring these bills, for furthering these bills, and for what they will do to ensure that we can have economic growth for all, bank bailouts for none. Now, we will soon hear from the other side of the aisle, Mr. Chairman, and if history is our guide, we will have great angst, wailing, and gnashing of teeth that somehow this is hurting consumers. Nothing--nothing--in this package does anything to detract from the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investors Advisers Act of 1940, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and the list goes on. Fraud is fraud. Fraud is illegal. You cannot have competitive, efficient markets with it. But the SEC has a tri-part mission. Part of that mission is capital formation, and they have failed. They have failed. We must succeed on behalf of American families. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chair, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner), the author of H.R. 2357, the Accelerating Access to Capital Act.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the Republican leader and the leader of our Innovation Initiative.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds just to say, with regard to the gentlewoman's anecdote, if the gentleman engaged in fraud, apparently, he went to prison. Fraud is against the law, and people who perpetrate it should be in prison. Apparently, they are, and nothing in this bill changes that. I was also struck by the previous speaker from the Democratic side who cited all of these constituent priorities and who didn't once mention the plight of middle-income workers, who are falling behind, whose paychecks are stagnant, and whose savings have been decimated. The National Small Business Association has found that 20 percent of small businesses had to reduce the number of employees as a result of tight credit. That is why we are working to get access to capital for small businesses. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett), the chairman of the Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee, and who also happens to be the author of H.R. 4852, the Private Placement Improvement Act.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), the chairman of the House Small Business Committee who knows how desperately these bills are needed to aid our small business growth.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I have some good news for my colleague from Washington. The Financial Services Committee has already passed a robust cybersecurity bill, and passed it on a strong bipartisan basis: 46-9. We look forward to working with all of our colleagues in the House to forwarding this bill, working with our colleagues on House Energy and Commerce Committee and others. It is a serious topic. But I would also point out, Mr. Speaker, with respect to this extra disclosure, if cybersecurity is material, it already must be disclosed under current law. And I would add that, yet again, this is just one more burden, the subject matter of the motion to recommit, when we are trying to ease burdens on capital formation. I would remind all of my colleagues again that a recent report from the National Small Business Association released just this week showed that 41 percent of small businesses said that the lack of capital is hindering their ability to grow their business. If they can't grow their business, they can't give raises, they can't expand, they can't promote. Twenty percent said they had to reduce--actually lay off employees--as a result of tighter credit. That is the whole purpose, Mr. Speaker, of why we are passing this bill today. It is to grant greater access to capital. We have heard from so many small businesses and angel investors across the Nation about the need for capital formation for our entrepreneurs, for our small businesses, for our innovators. We have heard from the cofounder and CEO of NextSeed: ``Obtaining traditional financing from banks is still a tall order for many small businesses, especially for smaller amounts.'' Well, we want to respond to that. We don't need yet one more hurdle from the motion to recommit to get in the way of small businesses' end capital. It is also one more out- of-pocket cost. We heard from the senior partner at Centerfield Capital: ``These out-of-pocket costs and time spent by our professionals on SEC registration and compliance detract from our mission of empowering small businesses to grow.'' We want to empower small businesses on Main Street to grow, yet the motion to recommit would do just the opposite. Nothing could be more obvious than a quote from the gentleman, the CEO of Wilde & Company: ``When corporations access capital, they hire people.'' We want people hired. We want people promoted. We want people on good career tracks. We want middle-income people to rise. We want the working poor to become members of middle-income America, and they can't do that unless we access capital. The choice again is: Are we going to have another top-down, Washington-grown economy, or are we going to build our economy from Main Street up? House Republicans say it is time to build it from Main Street up. So it is time that we reject the motion to recommit and assure that our small businesses can access capital so that we can grow this economy, grow the family economy, and have a better America. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition.