J. Hill

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the good work of the Arkansas chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and to call attention to this topic that is so important throughout our Nation. Since I came to Congress, I have met with Arkansas American Foundation for Suicide Prevention members, their families, and recently, Tyler West and Christopher Epperson. This week I cosponsored H.R. 4194, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, in honor of them, and for so many like them and their families that have been affected by suicide and hope that we can reduce suicides nationwide. This bill would designate 988 as the universal telephone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, making it just as simple as dialing 911 for emergency help. I want to thank my friend and colleague, Representative Chris Stewart, for introducing this vital legislation. We all must work together and do what we can to save the lives of our fellow citizens and reverse this deadly trend. I look forward to the day we vote on this House floor to make 988 that lifesaving number. Congratulating Vinh Long on a New Manufacturing Facility

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize and congratulate Vinh Long on opening their new manufacturing facility in Morrilton, Arkansas. Vinh Long Import-Export Manufacturing Company is headquartered in Vinh Long, Vietnam, and was started from a small weaving group for local women in 1976. It has now expanded into a multimillion-dollar international operation. The company has grown to become one of Vietnam's largest natural fiber manufacturers. The new facility in Arkansas will have approximately 75 employees and use local suppliers in the production of furniture and other household goods for retailers in North America such as IKEA. The company has invested more than $10 million in the Morrilton facility, which is the first Vietnamese-based manufacturer to locate operations in the United States. It is a pleasure to visit this new facility, greet the team, and learn about their plans for manufacturing in central Arkansas. I look forward to their continued success. Recognizing Bank On Arkansas Plus

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Ms. Jean Waldrop, librarian of Harding University, on receiving the Suzanne Spurrier Academic Librarian Award. This award is given--in memory of Suzanne Spurrier, the former library director at Harding University--each year to the librarian who exemplifies the spirit of outstanding service and is dedicated to the professionalism that we expect from all librarians. Miss Waldrop has been working at Harding's Brackett Library since 2006 and oversaw several areas of the library before becoming its director. She has served as the secretary for ARKLink, a board member for Amigos, and is currently serving on the White County Regional Library System board and the Searcy Public Library board. I would like to extend my congratulations to Jean Waldrop on receiving this recognition and wish her much continued success. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, today I rise to mark Global Entrepreneurship Week, where all across the globe cities will be hosting events that will inspire millions to explore their potential as an entrepreneur while fostering connections and increasing collaborations within their communities. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are the engines of our economy in Arkansas and across our country. They support millions of jobs in this Nation. They create and support jobs within their local communities and employ approximately half the private-sector workers in the United States. As a co-chairman and founder of the House Entrepreneurship Caucus, I am proud to celebrate the visionary men and women who boldly pursue their passion to build the growth businesses that fuel our economy. The United States has served as a global beacon of innovation, delivering remarkable new products and services that improve the lives of all Americans. Today, over 99 percent of U.S. employers are small businesses that create 57 million jobs that generate 44 percent of our economic activity. The spirit of the startup is built into our American DNA. Our country is home to the world's greatest inventions, companies, and technological advances because we believe that anyone with a good idea and determination can build a business that changes the world. The House Entrepreneurship Caucus believes in empowering the pursuit of America's innovators by removing the barriers that make it harder to start a business in this country. Over the past four decades, I have had a long career focused on different aspects of entrepreneurship and technology. Back in 1980, I helped start a payment system innovator in the banking industry, a company that became PULSE, the largest shared ATM/POS system in the Southwest. PULSE is now owned by Discover. I didn't know it at the time, as a young person, but I was an entrepreneur. I took a leave from a public company that I worked for and helped start an innovative financial technology business that really changed the face of banking in Texas in those years. Likewise, later in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Corporate Finance at the Treasury. There, working with my colleagues at the Commerce Department, we focused on how to make American companies more competitive. How do we lower barriers to our global competitiveness? That was a key moment at that time, given the world in the late 1980s, with amazing increases in foreign competition from Asia and from Europe. Also, how do we reduce the barriers for investment in technology companies, something that, now, America, again, 30 years later, is so well known for? And yet, still investing in technology, whether it is biotech or Silicon Valley or in the worldwide web investing, that is still a challenge to come up with the right number of dollars to support investing in technology, where you don't have traditional assets. So throughout my career, I have tried to lead in looking for solutions to build our entrepreneurship and build our business ecosystem, and I have had the pleasure to work in a variety of different industries. As a chamber chairman and as a community banker, I led the way in my hometown of Little Rock to improve our ecosystem by supporting the BioVentures incubator at the University of Arkansas medical campus, support the creation of a venture center. These are all things that I have seen help create a spirit of entrepreneurship in not only Little Rock, but across the country. Perhaps Steve Case has said it best. By creating an environment where there is the rise of the rest, where technology, entrepreneurship, business startups are not limited to the West Coast or the East Coast of the United States, but are spread across all of our towns and communities in a better way, things like the innovation hub or the program called the Conductor are bringing to middle America the kinds of entrepreneurship talents and abilities that we need. But the most things that a startup business needs, more than anything else besides capital, is to take that idea and have a good set of mentors or advisers. That is something that, again, the Conductor and the innovation hubs in our small business development centers across the country help create, that local community entrepreneurship culture. Now, since joining Congress some 4\1/2\, almost, now, 5 years ago, I have continued to focus my work to expand the flow of capital, reduce barriers to business startups and business growth, and consistently, Madam Speaker, I have tailored my thoughts in the following key areas that Federal policy can influence entrepreneurship: We need to tailor regulatory regimes for businesses. We need to be very sensitive about the regulatory burden to a startup or to a small business or to a mom-and-pop. We need to lower taxes for capital investment and capital gains taxation to encourage long-term investments, and some of the changes that we made in the 2017 tax bill reflect that. Lowering taxes on investment, encouraging investments in opportunity zones, encouraging long-term capital investment, returning capital to the United States, all this creates a better entrepreneurship environment. We want to mitigate barriers for companies that want to go public, that want that ultimate recognition of raising capital on the public markets. Over the last three decades, we have seen the number of public companies fall, Madam Speaker, dramatically, and we want to know what are the barriers that are causing fewer companies to go public in our country. We want to reward innovation. We want to make sure Federal policies streamline efficiencies and compliance for our business. And, finally, we want to make sure that credit is available equally across this great country. In furtherance of these ideals, I would like to highlight the work of the Kauffman Foundation and their new report just released, ``America's New Business Plan.'' The Kauffman Foundation is a leader in this field and recently formed the ``Start Us Up'' coalition, in collaboration with over 100 entrepreneurship advocacy groups, to address many of the issues that I have touched on and am discussing today. America's New Business Plan outlines four key principles that are necessary to support entrepreneurship and business development: Number one, opportunity: a level playing field and less red tape. When it comes to starting a business, entrepreneurs need a level playing field to compete with larger, more established enterprises. Number two, funding: equal access to the right kind of capital--not just bank loans, but also venture capital. The idea of an innovation grant, called an SBIR, the opportunity to raise angel capital or venture capital. Number three, knowledge: the know-how to start a business, including understanding the requirements and barriers that come with turning an idea into reality. Having been engaged in so many emerging companies and startup companies over my career, that is always that strict assessment that an entrepreneur, a visionary, a startup company owner really needs, perspective: perspective on what are the requirements needed to start your business and any barriers that would make it difficult, and having a realistic plan to deal with that. And the fourth key area that Kauffman outlines is support: the ability for all to take risks, while having the proper support after becoming an entrepreneur and leaving behind that stability of a traditional job and that paycheck every 2 weeks and the benefits that come with it. That is why I emphasize those four areas are so key. The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville recently established their Startup Village to address a few of these issues by providing students and the community entrepreneurs with the resources and support needed early in the process to help them launch their own business and pursue happiness. I know how important it is to have a wide range of funding options that I have talked about. In central Arkansas, I am proud to note that private equity has created over 1,600 jobs and invested more than $2 billion just in the last 5 years, demonstrating that Steve Case is right, that all communities can share in this prosperity if they have that right ecosystem. Specifically, to push some of these ideals, I have supported different causes and different legislation in this House that I want to highlight during Global Entrepreneurship Week. First, we formed the Entrepreneurship Caucus to address these issues and have our support in the House of job creators across this country. We did that in conjunction with the United States Senate, which also has started an Entrepreneurship Caucus. It is led by Senator Klobuchar and Senator Scott. I was pleased to, here in the House, have my colleagues join me from House Financial Services, House Ways and Means, and House Small Business. To start it, we had my colleagues--Congressmen Foster, Chabot, Murphy of Florida, Schweikert, and Veasey--all coming together with an idea that we will be a voice to create, I would say, an ability to watch for legislation in this House that may have either a positive effect on capital formation and business formation or a deleterious effect. Number two, we have introduced the Enhancing Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century Act. As a part of this caucus work, I have introduced legislation with the co-chairs that directs the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a comprehensive study into the underlying economic factors driving the decline in rates in entrepreneurship. Senators Klobuchar and Scott have introduced a Senate companion of this bill, as well. I also introduced with my friend, Representative Schweikert from Arizona, a bill that I saw was a big help to people starting a business, and I call it the Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act. What this does is it changes the definition of an accredited investor. Right now, Madam Speaker, you have to invest in a private business to participate in a venture capital idea, to go into what the SEC calls a reg D private placement offering. You have to be an accredited investor. You have to have a certain net worth. You have to have a certain income. For many people, that discriminates against their ability to lead a company, invest in a company in which they have terrific expertise. So this bill simply says that professional expertise can also count to that definition of an accredited investor, and it is not limited to just high net worth individuals. Additionally, I have cosponsored legislation called Helping Startups Continue to Grow Act. This extends that regulatory balance, those compliance costs. It reduces those for emerging growth companies from 5 years up to 10 years. This is where companies that are just growing, accessing capital through the public markets, have a lower regulatory burden now for 10 years rather than 5. So those are some of the key things that we are doing in these first few days of the House Entrepreneurship Caucus. I encourage all of my colleagues to get involved, whether they are entrepreneurs or not, if they have that entrepreneurial spirit, or if they believe that we should limit the government's red tape in bogging down innovative Americans from starting their business. According to the Kauffman Foundation, 79 percent of new business owners feel they did not have that kind of support from government when they started their business. The House Entrepreneurship Caucus was created to attack that issue and identify comprehensive efforts on how to answer to these problems that have limited business formation and make it easier to start a business. Working with entrepreneurs, business leaders, and economists to identify the root causes of what the Kauffman Foundation calls the current startup slump is a critical step to unleashing a new generation, a new wave of business growth in this country. Having effective policies in place to encourage innovation can make all the difference in the world for the entrepreneur in their first few years of a new endeavor. I am working hard to create that environment where all Americans are empowered to boldly pursue their passions and build a business that can change the world. Supporting innovators and new business founders is a mission that is not a partisan one. And with our voices, both Democrat and Republican in this new caucus, it won't be. Commending Arkansas Department of Human Services for Addressing Mental Health Issues

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend the Arkansas Department of Human Services for taking action to address the urgent need for better mental healthcare by establishing a support line to connect Arkansans to low-cost mental health and substance abuse services. Far too many Americans, about one in five, are suffering from some form of mental illness, a problem that has disrupted too many families, caused too much violence and pain, and cost far too many lives. Untreated, mental health disorders and substance abuse have resulted in countless tragedies in our country, including over 45,000 lives lost to suicide and 70,000 lives lost to drug overdoses, both in 2017 alone. We all must work together and continue to move forward in addressing the issue of mental health and mental health access and do what we can to save the lives of all American citizens and reverse this deadly trend of suicides and overdoses. The Arkansas support line is now live. If you or a loved one need mental health or substance abuse services, please share this number and call the DHS mental healthcare support line at 1-844-763-0198. Recognizing the Arkansas Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and congratulate the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on its 200th anniversary of the first issue of the Arkansas Gazette. As the state's leading news source, the Gazette has delivered reliable local, national, and international news for Arkansans for two centuries. Its first issue appeared on November 20, 1819. The Gazette has also recently unveiled a convenient digital format of the latest news. A new digital subscription to the newspaper provides access to a large package of news related to business developments, feature stories, and sports, which can be viewed using a phone, tablet, or computer. This is a generation of advanced technology and it is important to produce easy-to-access journalism for newspaper readers. I would like to extend my congratulations to President and General Manager Lynn Hamilton, and the entire Arkansas Democrat-Gazette team, and wish the company much continued success for generations of Arkansans to come.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, my good friend, for yielding, and I have to thank him for his decades of service and leadership here for free expression and for liberty in Hong Kong. I was moved by the Speaker's tribute and appreciate her 30 years of work there. I thank Mr. Engel for his leadership, and, of course, my good friend from California, who now is controlling the time for the majority. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and stand in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong. For 6 months, we have witnessed Hong Kong citizens protest for their right to live in a free and fair political system, an expectation they fully have. Over the last several weeks, we have witnessed the government become increasingly violent as it cracks down on protests. It is sad to see death and destruction come to this beautiful and energetic place. For three decades, I have traveled to Hong Kong and witnessed their innovative spirit and their extraordinary work ethic. In fact, Hong Kong was the model for the post-World War II Asian Tiger growth and prosperity now shared across the region. When a proponent of welfare statism queried progrowth economist Melvyn B. Krauss, ``But how many Hong Kongs can the world have?'' the professor responded, ``As many as the world will allow itself.'' The 7 million citizens of Hong Kong are looking to us for a voice and for leadership, and with today's vote, we will deliver. I call on President Trump to sign this important measure into law with expediency and show the world that America supports the people of Hong Kong, their right to free expression, and their democratic governance guaranteed under the five-decade arrangement agreed to in 1997 by the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Smith for his leadership, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this measure.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mrs. Wagner and my friend Mr. Green from Texas for their work on this legislation. We don't do perfect in the House of Representatives. We do the best that we can in the House of Representatives. We have worked on both sides of the aisle for years to craft something that has needed to be dealt with for well over two decades, which is to authorize the CDBG program for disasters in the right way. I congratulate Mr. Green and Mrs. Wagner for their work. As a volunteer after Katrina working in the very poor community of Lacombe, Louisiana, rebuilding houses, I saw firsthand the good and bad of Federal assistance as it relates to post-hurricane recovery and mitigation. And I fully understand why this legislation is so badly needed. In 2013, the inspector general found that $700 million in CDBG disaster money following Hurricane Katrina had gone missing and was unaccounted for. In March of this year, the GAO issued a report entitled, ``Better Monitoring of Block Grant Funds Is Needed.'' That is why we are here today, Mr. Speaker, and that is the leadership that we have gotten from Mrs. Wagner and Mr. Green, to bring accountability to an incredibly important program that helps people in need after our worst moments in American history. I thank the gentlewoman for her work, and I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chairman, first, let me say, as we talked about this morning, the Republicans supported unanimously the Waters- McHenry bipartisan deal to reauthorize the Bank with a long, constructive reauthorization. Let me also thank the gentlewoman from Oklahoma for offering the amendment to think about the idea of what would be the downside to her constituents and to American business were the Bank to close. I would argue that is not a prospect here but will be useful information to future policymakers. Why do I have that point of view? Well, there is a plan to extend this Bank. It will not lapse. If we had done the Waters-McHenry bill, we wouldn't even be on the House floor today. We would already have this signed into law, through the Senate, and on its way to the President's desk. But we are here today because this bill is not going to be taken up in the Senate, and this Bank is, most likely, in the interim, going to be reauthorized through the appropriations process. But I think informing policymakers of the risks of it being closed is good. Let me also say that President Trump considers the export agency an important tool in his economic outfit, his economic choice of opportunities to support American business, to increase trade in exports, to counter the One Belt, One Road initiative of China. Again, the Waters-McHenry bill would have done a better job on that. The President has appointed Directors of the Ex-Im Bank that are fully functioning. The new President, Kim Reed, is doing a good job in running the Ex-Im Bank. So the Ex-Im Bank is in good shape with a good board and with a good mission and would have been made stronger and better by the Waters-McHenry bill. I think this information that the gentlewoman from Oklahoma suggests will be useful to future policymakers, and I certainly don't have a problem with the amendment going forward. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed to the amendment.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chairman, again, I don't oppose this amendment. I urge its adoption. But I, again, remind this House that we had a better policy in the bipartisan Waters-McHenry bill that would do more for small business and that Republicans support a reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, the export agency. We want that opportunity. This bill, as designed, is not going to be voted on in the Senate and not going to become law. I look forward to the day when we are back on the House floor doing a bipartisan reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed to the amendment.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chairman, once again, we are on the floor talking about the importance of the export agency to small business. It is important to small business, which is why, in the Waters-McHenry bipartisan compromise, we had a strong, well-argued, well-focused, well-delivered policy for small business that, unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, is now not in the bill before us today. I want to compliment Mr. McHenry and Ms. Waters for their work together. I wish the Speaker had come to their aid in June to whip the vote for their well-argued compromise. Although, I want to associate myself, as well, with the Speaker's strong comments about China and the 30 years that America has tried since Tiananmen Square to change China's mercantilistic trade policy and be part of the world economy, and it hasn't worked. The Speaker outlined it beautifully today. She talked about her 30-year commitment there. Again, if we want to stop retaliatory tariffs and worrying about retaliatory tariffs, we should use every tool in our armory here to push back against China, to change China's mercantilistic policy. We have done that with CFIUS reform in this House on a bipartisan basis. We have done that with the Asia Reassurance Act in this House on a bipartisan basis. We could have used the Export Finance Agency on a bipartisan basis in a very conscious manner to make sure that the Ex-Im agency credits don't benefit China and their ability to extend their One Belt, One Road work around the world. I appreciate my friend from Michigan's amendment. I appreciate her support of small business. I appreciate her support of trying to measure the impact of retaliatory tariffs on small business and agriculture, for that matter. But we would be much more effective, Mr. Chairman, if we had adopted the underlying bill with its better position to support small business and its better position to strike back against the mercantilistic trade policies of China. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chairman, Republicans support the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chair, I thank my friend from North Carolina for yielding. I congratulate the ranking member and the chairwoman for trying to work together to produce a bipartisan bill that we can all support and demonstrate our keen interest in a long- term, bipartisan reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank, an important foreign policy tool for this Nation, not just in the situation with China, but generally. To my friend from Washington who talked about Huawei a few minutes ago, it is not just state-owned enterprises that we are concerned about. It is not public companies in China we are concerned about, or private companies in China. We are concerned with anyone who has engaged in something that is going to challenge the national security of this country. I would remind my friends on the other side that China's laws say: Any organization or citizen shall support, assist, and cooperate with the People's Republic of China intelligence effort. They shall provide all efforts truthfully and may not refuse. So it is not just small companies or state-owned enterprises; it is all companies in China that we have that risk. I offered an amendment that was turned down by the Rules Committee, ruled out of order by the majority, to try to tackle the issue of intellectual property, something we have dealt with in this country for 30 years. That was going to be an effort, I think, in this compromise bill that would have been so helpful, had we been able to successfully get it done. I have been a longtime advocate for proceeding with care as it relates to foreign policy with China. There is no doubt that intellectual property is at the heart of that challenge, and the Bank has a role to play as it reviews financing activities in China for our businesses. Nothing has been more pirated than computer software, music CDs, and Hollywood videos. All that has been taken by the People's Republic of China to the detriment of business in America. It plagued President Clinton; it plagued President Bush 43; and it plagued President Obama. Mr. Chair, let's work together on a bipartisan bill that we can all support.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Tennessee and my good friend from California for their leadership of our Veterans' Affairs Committee. They are a dynamic duo. Their visits to Little Rock, Arkansas, both as Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, gave local Arkansans a direct voice to leaders in Congress to discuss many of the issues they deal with on a daily basis. It was a pleasure to host them, and the accessibility they have shown to hear from people in Arkansas and across the Nation speaks to the type of leadership both provide atop the House Veterans Affairs Committee. I appreciate their kind words about Arkansas and my veterans team in the district, which works tirelessly to ensure the brave men and women who serve in our armed forces receive the benefits and care they deserve. I appreciate the opportunity to be on the floor to be in support of this list of good bills tonight. Mr. Speaker, I particularly want to thank my friend from New Jersey, Mr. Kim, for his hard work and collaboration on this important bill for our veterans. Mr. Speaker, in the last 5 years I have served in this House, I have had over 3,200 cases completed and closed for veterans in my district. As a former community banker, when I look at those cases and I listen to these stories, this too often is a challenge for our veterans. It is a crazy challenge. Mr. Speaker, that withholding a payment can have severe consequences for our brave veterans who are out there just doing their job, through no fault of their own and through a computer mess up or an IT problem, our veterans receive an overpayment and then suddenly get a letter a few weeks later saying, ``Oh, hey, we made a mistake. You owe us $5,000 back.'' Well, the normal American, Mr. Speaker, doesn't have that kind of financial planning expertise, and relies on the quality of our VA services to not make mistakes like that. So, it is a pleasure to work with Mr. Kim on this measure to try to improve that situation and answer the IG's own report at the VA that this is a serious problem affecting over 1.5 million veterans. This bill tries to tackle this issue by improving Veterans Administration IT systems, which are often the cause of this challenge, and offers veterans that unknowingly are forced to go without their earned benefits for extended periods of time some recourse on being a victim of an overpayment and have their credit impaired. I am proud to represent veterans from Camp Robinson and Little Rock Air Force Base in our central Arkansas area. I am proud to work on something that rectifies a common problem across this country. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from New Jersey for his work and for the leadership of the committee for bringing this bill to the House floor.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Tennessee and my good friend from California for their leadership of our Veterans' Affairs Committee. They are a dynamic duo. I appreciate the opportunity to be on the floor to be in support of this list of good bills tonight. Mr. Speaker, I particularly want to thank my friend from New Jersey, Mr. Kim, for his hard work and collaboration on this important bill for our veterans. Mr. Speaker, in the last 5 years I have served in this House, I have had over 3,200 cases completed and closed for veterans in my district. As a former community banker, when I look at those cases and I listen to these stories, this too often is a challenge for our veterans. It is a crazy challenge. Mr. Speaker, that withholding a payment can have severe consequences for our brave veterans who are out there just doing their job, through no fault of their own and through a computer mess up or an IT problem, our veterans receive an overpayment and then suddenly get a letter a few weeks later saying, ``Oh, hey, we made a mistake. You owe us $5,000 back.'' Well, the normal American, Mr. Speaker, doesn't have that kind of financial planning expertise, and relies on the quality of our VA services to not make mistakes like that. So it is a pleasure to work with Mr. Kim on this measure to try to improve that situation and answer the IG's own report at the VA that this is a serious problem affecting over 1.5 million veterans. This bill tries to tackle this issue by improving Veterans Administration IT systems, which are often the cause of this challenge, and offers veterans that unknowingly are forced to go without their earned benefits for extended periods of time some recourse on being a victim of an overpayment and have their credit impaired. I am proud to represent veterans from Camp Robinson and Little Rock Air Force Base in our central Arkansas area. I am proud to work on something that rectifies a common problem across this country. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from New Jersey for his work and for the leadership of the committee for bringing this bill to the House floor.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the tree I was able to plant this morning on U.S. Capitol grounds in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt and his important influence on conservation. Republicans quote him. Democrats quote him. He's on Mount Rushmore. He left a legacy of having written more than thirty-five books, 150,000 letters and countless articles. As president, he used his authority to establish 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, five national parks, 18 national monuments, and designated over 200 million acres as national forests, yet no tree here on the U.S. Capitol grounds honors our transformational 26th president. In 1907, Roosevelt penned a letter to school children in honor of Arbor Day, saying ``a people without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as helpless.'' A Greek proverb tells us that ``a society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.'' It is my hope that our future youth and Capitol visitors will now enjoy the beauty and shade of this tree and that the important influence of President Roosevelt will continue well into the 22nd century and beyond.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member. I am grateful for the opportunity to come to the floor and talk about H.R. 2513, the Corporate Transparency Act. I want to thank my good friend from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney) for her leadership in this area for well over a decade, her hard work, and her determination on improving our anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act rules. I appreciate the chair of the committee and her work as well. The legislation addresses how we might combat illicit finance activities by appropriately strengthening the collection of beneficial ownership information. Now, Mr. Chairman, a beneficial owner is a person who enjoys the benefits of ownership even though the title to some form of property is in another name. We have long debated in Congress the best way for this information to be collected. Let's be clear here. It is being collected by our financial services industry under our know-your-customer rules. The ability to set up legal entities without accurate beneficial ownership information, however, has long represented a key vulnerability in the U.S. financial system. As I say, all U.S. banks, brokerage firms, and financial services companies have a know-your-customer obligation to collect ownership information and, importantly, collect beneficial ownership information. This was further defined in May 2008 by a FinCEN rule. But not all shell companies are established for malicious purposes. Owners might create one temporarily to finance a company that has not yet started operations or to proceed with an acquisition in coming years. But in this instance, they would have no employees and no revenue, so the structure would look like a shell company, but it would be otherwise legal. It is true, though, there are too many instances of anonymous shell companies serving as a vehicle for ill-intended activities, including money laundering and terrorist financing. The anti-money laundering system and the sanctions system, both independently and in tandem, are more important than ever before, as we have seen in recent debates. For well over a decade, Congresswoman Maloney, author of the legislation, has been leading and working hard to pass a bill that would enhance our AML regime, including on beneficial ownership. She and I agree, as do all the Members of this House, Mr. Chair, that it is vital to U.S. national security to have a vigorous and good AML/BSA system. However, I cannot support the legislation as currently written. In my view, H.R. 2513 places a significant burden on small business and, in my view, unnecessarily. The rules have been outlined here. I believe there is a better path forward, which is why I have long supported aligning tax filing with the collection of beneficial ownership information. Small businesses are already familiar with filing taxes. A small business already files their taxes, which includes disclosing their owners, their capital, and their business structure. On their returns, they declare domestic and foreign aspects of their business-- all subject to common existing processes and parameters, all subject to privacy, and all subject to existing penalties for failure to accurately report. I think we can all agree that closing off access to illicit finance is laudable, necessary, and appropriate; and I expect that we can agree that the collection of accurate beneficial ownership information is a step in the right direction. I would just like to see us get there without subjecting small businesses to new, unnecessarily complicated reporting with the burden of exceedingly severe penalties for failure to comply. Mr. Chairman, I hope that we can reach a simple compromise that sees stronger collection without jeopardizing small business.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank my friend from New York for her working with me on this amendment. I thank her for accepting it. And I want to thank the Chair of the full committee for its report. I want to just close and emphasize that under the law as drafted today there are about 10,000 law-enforcement qualified people that can access that database. That is a lot of people, Mr. Chair, that have access to this database that we are concerned about in making sure that it is maintained in a very confidential manner. I appreciate the consideration of the amendment, and I appreciate its adoption. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry).

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chairman, may I ask how much time I have remaining.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chair, I want to again thank my friend from New York for her hard work on crafting this legislation. While we have had differences along the way, it is critical that we strengthen our national security and AML BSA system and strengthen the transparency of beneficial ownership. As I have previously discussed, I am concerned with several aspects of the bill, and I am offering this amendment which I believe will help improve its overall purpose. When we heard testimony, a retired FBI agent testified to our committee acknowledging that law enforcement wants this data, this new database at FinCEN to search, essentially, without a warrant or a subpoena. My amendment would require the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to develop stringent procedures around the beneficial ownership database pertaining to who and how it has been accessed. Per the bill's requirements, many businesses will be providing this information into a repository that will contain sensitive information. Who can access and how they can access it should have clearer guidelines and ensure that this information is not being inappropriately accessed. Additionally, the amendment requires FinCEN to report to Congress, annually, the number of times law enforcement, banks, or other parties access the database, how many times it was inappropriately accessed, and the number of subpoenas obtained to gain access to the database. This will ensure that Congress maintains oversight of the database and that banks or law enforcement are not abusing this new system. Our committee has heard hours of testimony about Federal Government data breaches over these years: OPM, the SEC, IRS, CFPB. As such, we have to make sure this information is as secure as possible. As previously mentioned, this information is highly sensitive and should remain extremely confidential to the extent possible. As policymakers, we have an obligation to our constituents to ensure that we uphold their privacy, and this amendment will better help us achieve that goal. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment. It is good for businesses, good for our bankers and lawmakers, and, ultimately, good for our citizens. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution reads the House of Representatives ``shall have the sole power of impeachment.'' This Speaker does not have that sole power. The full House of Representatives does. Modern precedent clearly sets out a process for fair consideration of impeachment. It was followed by Democrats in the case of President Nixon and followed by Republicans in the case of President Clinton. The Speaker has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to fairness and precedent. Authoritarianism is now the rule of the people's House. A Star Chamber hidden away in the Capitol basement is the domain of authoritarianism. Where is the due process? Where is the transparency? Abandoned. Where is the ability to confront accusers? Where is the separation of prosecution and grand jury? Abandoned. Abandoned by our Speaker. I call on the majority to put aside partisanship and pointless attacks and get back to work.