Brad Sherman

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, it is my distinct pleasure to recognize the outstanding achievements of Stephen Wise Temple on the occasion of its 60th anniversary. Since its founding by Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin in 1964, Stephen Wise Temple has grown to become one of the strongest pillars of the faith community in Los Angeles. Stephen Wise Temple's core principles of creativity, inclusivity, and generosity truly embody the values of its namesake, Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise, and further the mission of tikkun olam, ``repairing the world.'' The history of Stephen Wise Temple serves as a testament to the American ideal that greatness can spring from humble origins. Initially, the congregation consisted of just 35 families and lacked a permanent location. Through the dedication of Rabbi Zeldin and the perseverance of its members, the Temple never once faltered in its conviction to provide a place for the Reform Jewish community of Los Angeles, until finally, in 1969, the congregation moved into its current home in Bel-Air, overlooking one of the most beautiful views in all of Los Angeles. Under the stewardship of their outstanding clergy, including Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback: Rabbis David Woznica. Ron Stern. Sari Laufer and Josh Knobel; Senior Rabbi Emeritus Eli Herscher; and Cantor Emma Lutz, Stephen Wise Temple today provides a spiritual home for Southern California's Jewish community. It is a place where people connect with their faith, with their neighbors, and with the State of Israel. Now more than ever, people also turn to Stephen Wise Temple for courageous moral leadership. In the face of rising bigotry and hatred, Stephen Wise Temple has worked to increase awareness of antisemitism in our local communities and to combat its normalization through educational initiatives and interfaith partnerships. Last year, they also convened an important discussion of international efforts to combat antisemitism with European representatives. ``The Wise Way Forward'', as it has come to be known, is perhaps best personified by the Temple's Center for Tikkun Olam, which advocates for efforts to promote climate justice, prevent gun violence, and provide food relief for the homeless. Additionally, in partnership with Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH), the Temple also works to assist newly housed veterans by providing them with furniture, appliances, and other amenities to help them transition off the street and into new homes. In sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, Stephen Wise Temple and their congregants answer the call to serve. Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate Stephen Wise Temple and join in celebration of this momentous anniversary.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 14.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 6.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent from the Chamber on Monday, November 13, 2023 for the first votes of the week. Had I been present, I would have voted ``Yea'' on Roll Call No. 643; ``Yea'' on Roll Call No. 644; and ``Yea'' on Roll Call No. 645.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chair, had I been present, I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall No. 612. Amendment No. 47 Offered by Mr. Schweikert

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, Speaker Johnson brought to this floor a bill to prevent the IRS from auditing the wealthy because: ``Every time a billionaire cheats on their taxes, a member of the House Freedom Caucus earns his wings.'' Speaker Mike Johnson said today that Israel can't wait for this critical aid. Then, he brings to the floor a bill that he knows is dead on arrival in the Senate. He knew full well that all he had to do was bring it up without the IRS provisions and it would pass overwhelmingly in this House and the Senate, and would be on the President's desk in a day. For 50 years, every Israel bill that came to this floor passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. That is critical because Israel has one friend in the world. If Israel becomes a partisan issue, then Israel has one-half of one friend in the world. Hamas was willing to kill, to decapitate, and to die to undercut world support for Israel, particularly bipartisan support here in the United States. No one has done more than our new Speaker to help Hamas achieve that objective.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, what this bill does is requires a formal report to tell us what, unfortunately, we know informally, and that is that education for terrorism has continued. With this formal report on its way, UNRWA will understand that what is happening in its schools will be exposed and that the American Congress will not continue to fund them if they don't meet the responsibilities. Now, it is said that they have to rely on Palestinian Authority textbooks. No, they simply have to change their policy. I look forward to meeting the humanitarian and educational needs of the Palestinian people in a way that builds toward peace, not in a way that holds out to Palestinian fifth graders as an example someone who would kill 38 civilians, including 13 children.

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have been working on this bill for a long time. I introduced it in the 116th Congress and the 117th Congress, and both times it passed unanimously in the Foreign Affairs Committee. Now, finally, in the 118th Congress, we have it to the floor. I thank Mr. Mast from Florida for being the Republican lead on this bill and speaking for it here on the floor. Now, as I said, this bill passed unanimously three times through our committee, and I hope it passes unanimously by voice vote here on the floor. Let us reflect on what has happened recently in Israel. Our Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, I think, summarized it well in his testimony yesterday: Young people chased down and gunned down at a dance party. Children executed in front of their parents. Parents executed in front of their children. Families in final embrace burned alive. People beheaded. There was a family of four, a boy and a girl of 6 and 8 years old and their parents, around the breakfast table. The father's eye was gouged out in front of his children, the mother's breasts were cut off, the girl's foot was amputated, and the boy's finger was cut off before they were executed. Then the executioners sat down and had a meal. We heard an intercepted telephone call where a terrorist called his mother and said gleefully: ``I have killed 10 Jews with my own hands. I'm using the dead Jewish woman's phone to call you now.'' How does such a horror occur? It occurs when generations are raised to hate, to kill, to behead, to murder, and it is a product of the schools that we have seen for decades on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. I point to a particular fifth grade textbook which glorifies a terrorist who in 1978 went forward and killed 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, many of them pictured here. This is who is glorified. This is who is held up to Palestinian children as the model for them to follow. We should not be surprised that there is, therefore, significant support for the Hamas doctrine: ``From the river to the sea . . . '' All Jews must be killed; that is their position. That is what holds their organization together. I know the scenes that come now from Gaza are horrific. People say: ``Let's stop the fighting. Let's have a cease-fire.'' Well, what would happen then? We don't have to wonder, because just today, Ghazi Hamad, a high-ranking official of Hamas, said exactly what would happen. He said: We will repeat October 7 one, two, three, four, five times, as many times as it takes, until Israel is annihilated. That is what happens if we have a cease-fire, unless we have the kind of cease-fire that we should have, one in which Hamas releases all the hostages and disarms. Then we can have a cease-fire. In the years to come, after the actions being taken in Gaza, we will again wonder: Is another generation being educated to repeat these crimes in future years? How are these students educated? They are educated in schools run by UNRWA, the U.N. organization, and paid for in large part by the United States. While we have responsibilities around the world, the oil-rich Arab states contribute only a portion, a small portion of what UNRWA spends. America contributes half and more than half. When we resumed funding for UNRWA in 2021, it was with the understanding that the schools would change, and we reached the 2021 framework for cooperation. So far, not so good. It appears as if the books continue.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, the scenes from Gaza are horrendous, and people want the fighting to end. Some call for a cease-fire. Hamas needs to hear those calls and agree to free the hostages and turn over its rockets, and then we can have that cease-fire. There was a cease-fire on October 6. Hamas broke it and killed 1,400 Israelis. What would happen if we had a cease-fire leaving the rockets and arms in Hamas' hands? Today, Ghazi Hamad, a high-ranking Hamas official, said exactly what would happen. He said: We will repeat October 7 one, two, three, four, five times, as many times as it takes, until Israel is annihilated. We need a true cease-fire, and we can achieve it only if Hamas is disarmed. I have been a pro-Israel activist for 60 years and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee for nearly 30. Israel has one friend in the world. Hamas knows that. America is divided and partisan. Hamas knows that. The terrible scenes in Gaza show that Hamas is willing to die for one thing, and that is to put those scenes on American television to undercut support for Israel to make sure that that support is not bipartisan. Last week, we showed bipartisan support, with 97 percent of the Democrats and 99 percent of the Republicans voting for a strong resolution. Unfortunately, our Speaker has decided to undercut that and, in doing so, help Hamas achieve its most important geopolitical objective. For 60 years, when an Israel resolution comes to this floor, it passes overwhelmingly with support on both sides of the aisle. Tomorrow, that changes because the Speaker is bringing a nakedly partisan version of the support for Israel bill to this floor. Mr. Speaker, you have only been in office for a week and already you are achieving Hamas' geopolitical objectives. Why? Supposedly, to pay for the cost of aiding Israel, they are going to slash the IRS budget. CBO today just indicated that that will cost us over $26 billion in revenue and will increase the cost of aiding Israel. I am here to say, as the co-chair of the Bipartisan CPA Caucus, as someone who has taught tax law at Harvard Law School, and as someone who headed the second largest tax agency in this country, that that CBO number is way too low. The long-term effects will be devastating on our ability to collect taxes. We need a bipartisan bill before this floor, not a bill that supposedly is going to help Israel but actually is designed to hurt Israel, help Hamas, and die in the Senate. Now, the numbers coming from Gaza about casualties are something that a CPA should look at. We know what happened at Al Ahli Arab hospital. They dramatically overstated the casualties. Then, America said, with a high degree of confidence from our intel community, that that was a rocket fired by Hamas or Islamic jihad that failed to reach its target and instead fell on a Palestinian hospital. Even if you accept Hamas' statistics, our press goes further and exaggerates their number. First, Hamas will tell you that they include in their statistics dead Palestinian combatants, and so our press reports the number as if that somehow is Israel's fault. Hamas will tell you that they include in those statistics those who die from the one-third of Hamas rockets that crash into Gaza, yet our press will report that statistic as if that is a number Israel is responsible for. As to those who die from Israeli ordnance, keep in mind that is because of Hamas' use of human shields. They were in Israel and could have stood and fought the Israeli Defense Forces. Instead, they quickly retreated behind their human shields. Finally, those who say that we have more deaths in Gaza than in other terrible events happening in the world, this is clearly false. We have had over 600,000 deaths in Ethiopia. The press didn't report it, but it still matters. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record an open letter dated November 1, 2023, from the Association of University Heads, Israel, to accompany my speech on the floor today. Dear Colleagues: We, the leaders of Israeli universities and research institutions, write to express deep concern over the discourse emanating from academia following the devastating Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the inadequate response, in many cases, by academic leadership. On that darkest of days, in a tragedy unprecedented in Israel's 75-year history, the Hamas terrorists infiltrated into the country and murdered more than 1,400 people, including infants, children, students, and senior citizens-- Jewish, Muslim, and Christian alike. The attack also included the abduction of 240 civilians of all ages into Gaza; additional missing persons have not yet been identified and accounted for. In the aftermath of these horrific events, we find it disturbing that certain narratives from academic institutions misrepresent the situation, or, in the worst cases, actively target Israelis and Jews. We find ourselves facing a war on two fronts: one against the atrocities of Hamas, and another in the global arena of public opinion. Regrettably, we have noticed an alarming trend in which Israel, despite its right to self-defense, is mischaracterized as an oppressor. This is a false equivalence between the actions of a murderous terrorist organization and a sovereign state's right to defend its citizens, which unfortunately results in the loss of innocent Palestinian lives. Any attempt to justify or equivocate Hamas's brutal and grotesque actions is intellectually and morally indefensible. It's unsettling to note that many college campuses have become breeding grounds for anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiments, largely fueled by a naive and biased understanding of the conflict. It is ironic that the very halls of enlightenment in America and Europe, ostensibly the bastions of intellectual and progressive thought that are your campuses, have adopted Hamas as the cause celebre while Israel is demonized. Universities, as hubs of enlightenment and rational discourse, must take responsibility for the views they perpetuate. There is no moral equivalency here. Let's be clear: Hamas shares no values with any Western academic institution. Hamas is an organization that has repeatedly pledged to annihilate Israel and its people. Its ideology is antithetical to the values of human life and the liberal values we hold dear. Hamas funnels international aid into armament rather than to the welfare of its citizens. While Israel uses its weapons to shield its citizens, Hamas uses its citizens as shields for its weapons--which it hides in hospitals, schools, and mosques. It is crucial to distinguish between Hamas' terrorist objectives and the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for statehood. The conflation of the two only serves to fuel hatred and ignorance. Academic institutions stand as lighthouses in the intellectual landscape, and we ask you to illuminate them. Your roles as leaders of these institutions confer upon you an extraordinary responsibility: to guide the moral and ethical development of your students, to imbue them with the ability to think critically and to discern the nuances that separate right from wrong. Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of academic freedom, but it should not be manipulated to legitimize hate speech or to justify violence. We urge you to delineate the boundaries between constructive discourse and destructive propaganda, and promote evidence-based, nuanced thinking that challenges simplistic narratives. Expose the falsity of justifications for acts of terror; expose and condemn disingenuous statements; and reject hypocritical voices that justify murder, rape, and destruction in the name of ``resistance''. Moreover, we expect that Israeli and Jewish students and faculty on university and college campuses will be accorded the same respect and protections as any other minority. The principles of inclusivity and campus safety must unequivocally extend to include Israeli and Jewish members of your academic communities. Just as it would be unthinkable for an academic institution to extend free speech protections to groups targeting other protected classes, so too should demonstrations that call for our destruction and glorify violence against Jews be explicitly prohibited and condemned. What the world witnessed on October 7 were not methods to help disadvantaged peoples build better futures for themselves. The events of this terrible day should be taken as a wake-up call to all of the dangers of nihilistic organizations like Hamas and ISIS that represent the very opposite of freedom and liberty. As leaders of Israeli universities, we have been heartened by clear statements of solidary and support for Israel, which are, at their heart, statements in solidary with humanity, enlightenment, and progress. At the same time, we are calling for a sea change in clarity and truth in academia on the matter of Israel's war against Hamas, so that light will triumph over dark, now and always. Signed, Prof. Arie Zaban, President of Bar-Ilan University, Chairperson of Association of University Heads--VERA; Prof. Daniel A. Chamovitz, President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Prof. Alon Chen, President of Weizmann Institute of Science; Prof. Asher Cohen, President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Leo Corry, President of the Open University of Israel; Prof. Ehud Grossman, President of Ariel University; Prof. Ariel Porat, President of Tel-Aviv University; Prof. Ron Robin, President of University of Haifa; Prof. Uri Sivan, President of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Hakeem Jeffries for his speech in favor of the importance of this resolution. The scenes from Gaza are horrendous and some cry out for a cease- fire. Hamas cannot follow a cease-fire. They exist and it is in their charter to kill every Jew in the Middle East. If they agreed to a cease-fire, they would fall apart. They had a cease-fire on October 6, which is why they killed 1,400 civilians on October 7. We can get a cease-fire when Hamas agrees to disarm and release the hostages. The loud voices demanding a cease-fire should be shouting at Hamas demanding those two actions. We hear quotes from the Gaza Ministry of Health. The Gaza Ministry of Health counts in their death counts the terrorists who are killed and mixes them with the civilians. The Gaza Ministry of Health is under the control of Hamas. Hamas brutally murders Palestinians who dare to dissent. It forces innocent Palestinians to act as human shields, and it steals aid meant for civilians. Thirty percent of the time when it shoots a rocket in an effort to kill an Israeli civilian, the rocket never leaves Gaza and it falls down to Earth where it may kill Palestinians, including those who died at that hospital in Gaza. Israel is characterized as somehow a European colony. Keep in mind, the majority of Israeli Jews are there from Arab States and Iran from which they have been expelled or persecuted. This is a Middle Eastern country of Middle Eastern descent from people who, 2,000 years ago, lived there but also lived there right until the Arab States expelled them or persecuted them. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to a time when we can have a two-state solution, that begins with the destruction of Hamas.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about Capital Group and one of its retiring leaders, Mr. Timothy D. Armour. Capital Group is not only headquartered, but was also founded more than 90 years ago, in my hometown of Los Angeles. Today, I want to recognize Tim for his contributions to the field of asset management and his dedication to the tens of millions of investors in the United States and around the world who have entrusted Capital Group to safeguard and grow their savings. At the end of this year, Tim will retire from Capital Group, a firm he joined over 40 years ago at its Los Angeles headquarters. After graduating from the firm's early-career rotational program, he served as an investment research analyst covering telecommunications and U.S. service companies and later as a portfolio manager in several of the American Funds. He distinguished himself throughout his career as a savvy investor able to identify companies that deliver long-term value for their shareholders. Tim also served in various leadership roles, including as Chairman of Capital Group's Management Committee and Board of Directors over the past 8 years. Under his leadership, the 92-year old firm expanded its reach to global investors while evolving to meet the demands of a changing world and provide for future success for the benefit of Capital Group's clients, associates and the communities where those associates live and work. Tim has been regarded by his colleagues and peers within the financial services industry as the embodiment of Capital Group's core values. His personal integrity, long-term focus and commitment to clients have set the tone for the current generation of the firm's associates and created a legacy that the next generation can follow. In anticipation of his retirement at the end of this year, associates of Capital Group were asked to characterize Tim's leadership with just a single word. The words most often repeated included kind, trusted, candid, inclusive, present, and caring. One close colleague added, ``It is rare to find a leader who cares so genuinely and openly about his colleagues and clients.'' I am proud to celebrate the career accomplishment of Tim Armour and wish him all the very best in life's next chapter.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I wish to clarify that when I join a Congressional Caucus, it does not necessarily mean that I agree with every position of the Caucus. At a minimum, my membership indicates that I seek to learn more about related issues and legislative agendas, and I look forward to a robust dialogue on topics under consideration by the Caucus. In particular, as mentioned by my colleague, Congressman Brad Schneider, in his announcement of the Family Business Caucus, membership in that Caucus is open to all Members of Congress seeking to learn more about generationally owned family business issues.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, this is indeed a resolution to roll back sanctions and then hope that maybe we will reimpose them on some other basis not detailed by the gentleman from Florida. This is not some meaningless resolution to feel good about or to message about. It has practical consequences. How many more people would Assad have been able to kill if he had the chance to cooperate economically with businesses here in the United States? How many other dictators would feel free to develop chemical weapons, would feel free to murder their own people and feel that they would face no economic consequences from the United States? Our policy has not turned Syria into a garden spot. What would the world be like if America turned its back on the crimes of Assad? Assad has killed more than half a million of his own people and forced 12 million people to flee. These particular sanctions are imposed on the Assad regime specifically because of his support for Hamas and Hezbollah. Think of that. We are having the President of Israel come here tomorrow, and what would we greet him with but nothing but a rollback of sanctions against two terrorists organizations who are trying to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible every day of the week. I think for us to be considering a pro-Israel resolution on this very floor in a few hours, for us to be welcoming the President of Israel tomorrow, and to have a resolution on this floor that would say it is okay, support Hamas, support Hezbollah, watch them try to kill as many Israelis as possible--they are not always successful, but they are trying--I can't think of a more effective way to insult the President of Israel when he stands on that podium and addresses us tomorrow. Let us continue to do what we can and remember that these sanctions do not expose a single American serviceman to risk of death or risk of injury. We should at least be willing to use the economic power of the United States to do what we can to rein in Syria and to make it clear to other dictators that chemical weapons, mass murder, and support for terrorism is not something that we will ignore.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, this is an excellent resolution. Israel is not a racist or apartheid state. Congress should and does reject all forms of anti-Semitism and xenophobia, and the United States will always be a staunch partner and supporter of Israel. However, why are we taking this up today? We are taking this up today because one of our colleagues from the State of Washington made a statement and then withdrew it. The question is: Why didn't we take up this resolution when Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier, was honored by the former President and given a chance to have dinner with the former President at his home in Mar-a-Lago? That is when we should have dealt with this resolution. We should have taken up this resolution when Kanye West had the honor of dinner with Donald Trump, the former President of the United States. We should have taken up this resolution when our colleagues, Mr. Gosar and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, both at different times joined Fuentes on stage, and in each case after they were denounced for the anti-Semitic act of lending their authority to Mr. Fuentes, these individuals did not withdraw, they did not apologize, and they did not condemn Mr. Fuentes. So we should believe in this resolution every day, and if we are going to allocate floor time, it should be when Holocaust deniers are honored by our colleagues and by the former President of the United States. Mr. Speaker, I will vote for this resolution today, but I will believe in this resolution 365 days each year, including those days in which certain others do something outrageous.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 334, H.J. Res. 70.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, along with my colleagues Congressman Jim Costa and Congressman Raul Grijalva, to pay tribute to our long-time friend and advisor Michael Fraioli, who passed away after a courageous battle with leukemia. Mike was a devoted husband and father and is survived by his wife of 27 years, Carol Eickert, his beloved children Michelle and Matthew, and his brother Tom. A Central Valley kid, Mike was born in Modesto, California and was a long-time resident of Chevy Chase, MD. After working in his hometown of Modesto on the successful campaign electing Tony Coelho to the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike moved to Washington, D.C. to begin his long and successful career in politics as a strong Democrat. Mike was the founder and owner of Fraioli & Associates, where he advised some of the highest-level Democrats in Congress and was a vocal advocate for a variety of labor organizations including IAMAW, IBEW, and AFL-CIO. Mike made an indelible impact on both my political journey and my life. I had the honor to work with Mike since 1996, a few months before I was elected to Congress. I spent thousands of hours with Mike over a period of 27 years--and I enjoyed every hour. As I reflect on Mike's life, I am reminded of his unyielding belief in the power of organizing and the necessity of empowering individuals to shape their own futures. He was a tremendous advocate and friend. His passing leaves a void not only in the realm of politics but in the hearts of all who had the honor of knowing him. We would like to extend our sincerest condolences to Mike's wife Carol, and his children Michelle and Matthew.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 2622, sponsored by the gentleman from Texas. To put this in context, we have one regulatory scheme to deal with broker-dealers and another to deal with registered investment advisers. Traditionally in the United States, a broker-dealer is only registered as a broker-dealer, subject to that regulatory scheme, and the broker-dealer not only executes transactions but also gives advice and does research. Our friends in Europe have required that under certain circumstances, a broker-dealer must charge separately for the research and advice on the one hand and for the execution of the transaction on the other. Following that pattern would ordinarily cause that broker-dealer to be subject to that second regulatory scheme, the regulatory scheme for registered investment advisers. It is appropriate that since 2017 the SEC has had a no-action letter, saying that if broker-dealers under these circumstances do not register as investment advisers, the staff of the SEC will recommend to the board that it take no action, no enforcement action. Basically, it is a pass for the broker-dealer to follow the European rules but not register as a registered investment adviser, continuing to be subject to regulation only as a broker- dealer. Now, this bill in its original form would have made this no-action letter, this pass permanent, but several investor groups expressed concerns about that original version of the bill. For example, a joint letter from the Council of Institutional Investors, the CFA Institute, and others argued against taking that approach without further thought. During the committee markup, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer) offered an amendment to change this bill from the permanent exemption to instead only relief for 6 months. It requires the SEC to study the impact of letting the no-action letter expire, something that the Financial Services Committee is very interested in understanding. The bill would also review other tangential issues, including conflicts of interest and the provision of financial services by middle-market financial intermediaries. With Mr. Gottheimer's amendment adopted, I think this bill is a reasonable compromise, and I urge all of my colleagues to support the bill. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. There is an image in the country that nothing is getting done in Washington, that we are tied up in partisan knots. As the gentleman from Texas points out, this bill passed our committee 45-2. Congress continues to function, although it is much more exciting for the press to cover the fights than the progress. The amended version of H.R. 2622 being considered on the floor today represents a bipartisan compromise. It gives the SEC the time to address potential concerns laid out by stockholders related to the no- action letter for broker-dealers that offer research services from needing to register as investment advisers. It is a well-thought-out response to our current situation. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 1548, the Improving Access to Small Business Information Act, sponsored by Representative Young Kim from the great State of California. The Paperwork Reduction Act mandates that all Federal agencies receive approval from the Office of Management and Budget before putting forth a paper form or survey that will impose an information collection burden on the general public. Although this is well-intentioned, the Paperwork Reduction Act may often prevent Federal agencies like the SEC from obtaining data from the public, the very data that assists agencies in carrying out this mission. This bill streamlines the ability of the SEC's Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation to carry out its mission by exempting it from the requirements of the Act in the same way that a sister agency, the SEC's Investor Advocate, is currently exempted. In effect, it enables the small business advocate to properly conduct its job, which will strengthen the ability of the SEC to craft regulations that help small businesses raise capital. I also want to note that as part of the negotiations that resulted in this bipartisan compromise bill, Chairman McHenry and Ranking Member Waters agreed that in the months ahead they will work together on bills to strengthen the independence and capacities of the investor advocate and of the small business advocate at the SEC. These two offices, both of which are congressionally created, must be given sufficient resources to satisfy their unique roles within the SEC. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close if the gentlewoman from Missouri has no further speakers.

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I commend the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Kim) for her excellent work on this bill. H.R. 1548 streamlines the ability of the SEC's small business advocate to better support small businesses' efforts to raise capital. I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Missouri for reprising for us the proud history of the United States Marines, and I join her in support of H.R. 1096, the 250th Anniversary of the United States Marine Corps Commemorative Coin Act, sponsored by Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts. I want to thank Representative Moulton, first, for his service in the United States Marines and, second, for offering H.R. 1096. I also want to mention Senator Blumenthal for leading the Senate version of this bill. This important legislation would authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to mint a series of commemorative coins honoring the 250th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps in 2025. These coins will be sold to collectors at a profit. The sale of these coins will then support programs for the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, which funds programs for the National Museum of the Marine Corps. The museum has been open since 2006, allowing the public to honor the Marine Corps and learn about its important work, as well as allowing for the storage of artifacts and research. The foundation also supports educational programming and cultural events. Representative Moulton, as a proud marine, has been a tireless advocate in advancing this legislation to commemorate this important anniversary. The Marine Corps has protected the United States for two-and-a-half centuries and deserves the highest level of honor, including the minting of these commemorative coins. I am so appreciative of their dedication to this important issue and am pleased to support this bill. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in that support, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Moulton), the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. H.R. 1096 will commemorate the important 250th anniversary of the creation of the United States Marine Corps. I am pleased that my colleague, Representative Moulton, chose to champion this issue so that we can all honor the work of the Marine Corps in protecting our freedom and our liberty over the past two-and- a-half centuries. Madam Speaker, again, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SHERMAN

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, today is a proud day for California, but particularly for the San Fernando Valley. Hundreds of Members of this House did their best to protect America from Donald Trump, but only one did it so well that he is the focus of this ridiculous resolution. He was effective, he was direct, and Donald Trump has demanded that he be attacked. Mr. Speaker, I thank Adam for doing his job so well. California is proud, and America is grateful.