BUILD Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 488) to increase the threshold for disclosures required by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to compensatory benefit plans, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, two things that are vital to the American economy: number one, 3 percent economic growth, and number two, competing with China.

Three percent economic growth, Mr. Speaker, is so important because, when you look at the history of America, if you look at jobs that are created, if you look at increasing incomes, if you look at decreasing unemployment, this happens in our 3 percent-plus growth years, and that is why it is so great that America is once again seeing 3 percent-plus economic growth.

But, Mr. Speaker, can we keep it?

There are some alarming trends that we have to arrest, and that is that, unfortunately, entrepreneurship, that is, launching new businesses, recently hit a generational low. Companies that are going public--and 90 percent of the jobs that a company creates happen after they go public, IPOs, initial public offerings--they have been in a decline, a 20-year decline, and they have reached a new low.

If we look at what China is trying to do with their 2025 program, Mr. Speaker, and dominate the world in high tech and then we turn around and we see that China has over a third of the world's IPOs, America-- our decline is now down to 11 percent--has got to change.

So thus, today, we are taking up the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act, also known as the JOBS Act 3.0.

What we are trying to do, Mr. Speaker, number one, we are doing it on a bipartisan basis, but we are trying to ensure that our entrepreneurs at least don't face the challenge of having the capital they need to launch their companies, because, Mr. Speaker, when we have more small businesses that are launching new enterprises and going public and staying public, these are the Amazons and the Googles and the Microsofts of the future.

So, again, Members on both sides of the aisle have come together because, historically, capital formation has been a bipartisan issue here. We have come together, Democrat and Republican, to make sure that these small

businesses get this start. And we try to treat the whole capital formation ecosystem, from venture capital with the HALOS Act and helping accredited investors be able to bring their capital to the table, to early growth companies and how they have to handle the very expensive 404(b) Sarbanes-Oxley provision, to the stages of companies going public, but once they go public, Mr. Speaker, the ability to stay public, and so we have a venture exchange bill to make sure that they can concentrate their liquidity in one area.

So this is important. It is important to keep 3 percent economic growth. It is important that America's garages have fewer old cars, more new startups.

I want to thank Members on both sides of the aisle, but I especially want to thank the ranking member, the gentlewoman from California, working so strongly and fervently and on a good, bipartisan, cooperative basis to produce the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act.

Mr. Speaker, I expect that we can have a strong bipartisan vote on the floor, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga), the chairman of the Capital Markets, Securities, and Investments Subcommittee, the real leader of this capital formation package on the Republican side of the aisle, and also the sponsor of two provisions of the bill: H.R. 477, the Small Business Mergers, Acquisitions, Sales, and Brokerage Simplification Act, and H.R. 6139, the Improving Investment Research for Small and Emerging Issuers Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), who is the chairman of the House Small Business Committee and who has sponsored a very important provision in the package, H.R. 79, the Helping Angels Lead Our Startups Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner), the chair of our Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, also the lead sponsor of an important provision in this package of bills, H.R. 5970, the Modernizing Disclosure for Investors Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr), the chair of our Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hultgren), who is the vice-chairman of our Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment Subcommittee.

Mr. Hultgren is the lead sponsor of two provisions of the bill, H.R. 5749, the Options Market Stability Act, and H.R. 6319, the Expanding Investment in Small Businesses Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy), who is the chairman of our Housing and Insurance Subcommittee. Mr. Duffy is the sponsor of a provision of this bill, H.R. 4537, the International Insurance Standards Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pittenger), who is the vice-chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus), the vice chairman of our Financial Institutions Subcommittee, who is also the lead Republican sponsor of one of the bills in the package, H.R. 6069, the Fight Illicit Networks and Detect Trafficking Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), a senior Democrat on the committee and the lead sponsor of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams), the vice chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), the majority whip of the committee and also the lead sponsor of H.R. 5783, the Cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies and Watch Act, and who worked, also, extensively on H.R. 1585, the Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer), who is the lead sponsor of a very important provision in the package, H.R. 5877, the Main Street Growth Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Loudermilk), who is the lead sponsor of two provisions in the package: H.R. 3555, the Exchange Regulatory Improvement Act, and H.R. 5953, the earlier referenced BUILD Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd), the lead sponsor of one of the provisions in the bill, H.R. 3903, the Encouraging Public Offerings Act.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman from California an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Indeed, Mr. Speaker, some would say the ranking member and I can't agree even on the time of day. I was told when this debate started that thunderstorms came over Washington, D.C., it was that monumental of an achievement.

But in seriousness, I do want to offer my thanks and my gratitude to the ranking member. She and her staff worked very constructively with us on this bill and the preceding important bill, the CFIUS reform, which we are still trying to work out our differences on with the Senate. But, long story short, we came together.

This is going to be an important day for small business. It is an important day for 3 percent economic growth, which is so important to American families.

I, too, want to echo how important the work of our staffs is. Particularly on the majority side, I wish to thank Kevin Edgar and Fritz Vaughan and their staff for their contribution.

This is going to make a difference, ultimately, because small businesses one day become big businesses. This will make a difference in economic growth for all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is an example of true bipartisanship. I want to thank Chairman Hensarling, the members of the Financial Services Committee, and the staff on both sides of the aisle for their work on this legislative package.

S. 488, the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018, is evidence that Democrats and Republicans can come together to strengthen our Nation's small businesses and entrepreneurs, bolster investor confidence, protect consumers, promote financial stability, and counter human and drug trafficking.

S. 488 helps small businesses grow by encouraging capital formation and requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to consider unique issues facing rural small businesses and small investment advisers. When entrepreneurs are looking to retire, S. 488 allows them to easily sell their businesses.

The bill also requires several rulemakings and studies to encourage small businesses to go public, including by protecting them from excessive underwriting fees.

Main Street investors and consumers also benefit from S. 488. One provision, which I authored, cracks down on corporate insiders engaged in illegal insider trading.

Democrats also led provisions to enhance disclosures about outsized insider voting power.

The bill also creates a task force at the SEC to protect seniors and their financial best interests.

Additionally, the bill helps nonprofits, like Habitat for Humanity, continue to extend affordable mortgages to low-income families aspiring to the dream of homeownership.

Thanks to Mr. Ellison, the legislation enables millions of Americans with thin credit files to improve and build their credit by allowing alternative types of data, like the on-time payment of rent and utilities, to be included in their credit reports without preempting State law.

S. 488 also improves financial stability. The bill directs regulators to improve the calculation for bank capital held to offset risk in the options and derivatives markets so that riskier products are covered by more capital

Finally, S. 488 strengthens our government's efforts to stop drug and human trafficking by preventing criminals who engage in these unconscionable acts from accessing the financial system.

There are several provisions that we did not reach bipartisan agreement on in time, including reforms to private offerings under regulation D that requires issuers to file disclosures before their first sell and after the termination of the offering. I am pleased that the chairman has offered to continue working on this and other issues with me, and I hope that the Senate has its own chance to make these and other changes.

Throughout my work on this legislation, I insisted that nothing could be included that would weaken Dodd-Frank's financial reforms, harm consumers, or provide giveaways to Wall Street. Instead, building on the bipartisan work of the Financial Services Committee, S. 488 includes measures that will help small businesses grow and protect hardworking Americans who entrust their savings to the capital markets.

Mr. Speaker, I again thank my colleagues for their strong bipartisan support on this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), the ranking member of our Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment Subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee, and the leading sponsor and Democratic cosponsor of several of the bills in this package.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David Scott), a senior member of the Financial Services Committee and the leading Democratic cosponsor of several of the bills in this package.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes), a member of the Financial Services Committee, the chair of the New Democrat Coalition, and the author of one of the bills in this package that ensures companies aren't paying excessive fees to go public.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster), who is a member of the Financial Services Committee and a leading Democratic cosponsor on several of the bills in this package.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Illinois an additional 20 seconds.

Will the Speaker please check the minutes again? We have calculated differently, and we think I have 9 minutes.

I am sorry. What is the Chair saying about the time that I have remaining?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty), who is a member of the Financial Services Committee who helped ensure that this bill cracks down on the use of digital currency in human trafficking.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer), who is a member of the Financial Services Committee and author of one of the bills in this package.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield myself the remainder of my time to close.

I once again thank my colleagues for their outstanding bipartisan work on this carefully crafted bipartisan legislation. S. 488, the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018, is an example of Members on both sides of the aisle working together to support our Nation's small businesses and investors.

S. 488 facilitates access to capital for small businesses, increases protections for consumers and investors, fights the scourge of drug and human trafficking, and promotes financial stability.

S. 488 is supported by institutional investors, angel investors, venture capitalists, biotech companies, credit unions, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and exchanges. This bill will help entrepreneurs, small businesses, and investors to thrive in our economy.

Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Hensarling for his foresight in knowing that this was possible because both sides of the aisle really support small businesses. It was Mr. Hensarling who said: Given that we do both support small businesses, why can't we come together around a package where we have already shown our support on individual bills either in committee or on the floor and put it all together?

He did that. He provided that leadership. I joined with him.

Our staffs are to be congratulated because they worked very hard on both sides of the aisle to work out any concerns that we may have, any differences that we may have. They did a magnificent job, and they are responsible for helping us to understand what certainly is and was possible.

So despite this, if I may say, there are many onlookers who never thought this could happen. There are many pundits, those who come from special interests, those who come from right here in the House on both sides of the aisle, who are still questioning.

Mr. Speaker, I had one inquiry from one of the magazines, I believe it was, who said: Tell me what happened in the background, what was really going on. How did this all come together?

I want the gentleman from Texas to know I told him it is none of his business. It really happened, and we are pleased about it. We worked very hard on that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Hensarling and all of the members who worked so hard to make this happen, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5953) to provide regulatory relief to charitable organizations that provide housing assistance, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5953, the Building Up Independent Lives and Dreams, or BUILD, Act, which would cut some of the regulatory red tape and alleviate unnecessary burdens that were created by Dodd-Frank.

The Truth in Lending Act, or TILA, as it is referred to, and the Real Estate Settlements Procedures Act, also known as RESPA, required lenders to provide consumers disclosures about the estimated and actual real estate settlement costs and financial terms of the mortgages that they offer.

Among other requirements, RESPA required standardized disclosures, such as good faith estimates, of the costs that the borrower should expect to pay at closing, and a list of closing costs commonly known as the HUD-1 document.

TILA required lenders to disclose the cost of credit and the repayment terms of mortgage loans before borrowers entered into a transaction. These disclosures were intended to help consumers compare the terms and make informed decisions regarding the suitability of various mortgage products and services that they were looking at purchasing.

However, Dodd-Frank mandated that the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection promulgate ``a single integrated disclosure for mortgage loan transactions . . . to aid the borrower . . . in understanding the transaction by utilizing readily understandable language to simplify the technical nature of the disclosures.''

It seems to me that in an effort to simplify the language, we might have added some more complicated language. But nonetheless, it remains compliant with both TILA and RESPA, which are very important.

I can tell you, as a former licensed Realtor, these disclosures and these closing documents are extremely important.

What we have seen, though, under this current situation, the TILA- RESPA Integrated Disclosure, or TRID, as it is called, the TRID rule was born out of this.

The final TRID forms combined elements of the good faith estimate, the HUD-1, and the TILA disclosure.

While these new forms were designed to be more consumer friendly-- they include sections on balloon loans and adjustable rate mortgages that may be applicable to traditional mortgage lenders--these forms are not relevant to charitable organizations like Habitat for Humanity, however.

Additionally, the TRID integrated disclosure forms pose significant implementation and compliance challenges for these charitable organizations because they include difficult-to-understand timing and delivery requirements and other practical implementation issues that go well beyond the previous content requirements, such as requiring purchasing and training of costly complex software intended for traditional mortgage lenders. Therefore, many charitable organizations have difficulty with fulfilling the needed compliance related to the origination and servicing of their loans.

The BUILD Act, introduced by Representative Loudermilk and Representative Sherman, would roll back requirements of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures Rule for charities, and only charities, like Habitat for Humanity and others, and, instead, allow these charities to use the good faith estimate and HUD-1 mortgage forms that had been in place previously.

Groups like Habitat for Humanity and their local State organizations specialize in providing housing for low income and rural communities. The financing that is done at a zero percent interest rate to provide minimal cost to the occupant is commendable and a goal that we all have.

This bill cuts yet another senseless and poorly written provision of Dodd-Frank that will help provide affordable housing for low income Americans in search of the American Dream.

Specifically, this bipartisan bill would provide tax-exempt nonprofit organizations originating these zero interest mortgage loans the flexibility to choose the simplest and most cost effective delivery of the mortgage disclosures.

Now these charitable organizations will be able to use their very scarce resources for building, repairing, and rehabilitating housing instead of spending it on costly compliance software.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the bipartisan work of Representatives Loudermilk and Sherman on the BUILD Act, which passed the Financial Services Committee by a vote of 35-0. I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 5953, the BUILD Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Loudermilk), my colleague from the Financial Services Committee, the author of the BUILD Act.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to commend our colleagues for working in a bipartisan manner, Mr. Loudermilk and Mr. Sherman, not only for dealing with this in committee; there was some trust that was shown on all sides to move forward on that, and this is the way the system is supposed to work. Congratulations.

I look forward to supporting this bill and request that all of my colleagues do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga) for yielding time for me to speak on what I think is a very important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this bill, the bill which is entitled Building Up Independent Lives and Dreams Act, also better known as the BUILD Act. This bill is proof that, even in this Chamber, we can rise above politics and let common sense prevail occasionally.

I would like to first start by thanking my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have worked with me and my staff to make this a very strong, bipartisan effort. I appreciate my colleague Mr. Sherman, who just spoke, for negotiating reasonable changes to the bill and for being an original cosponsor. I also want to thank Ms. Tenney, Ms. Velazquez, and Mr. Budd for their work and for cosponsoring the bill as well.

Mr. Speaker, the Dodd-Frank Act required the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to combine the TILA loan estimate and the RESPA closing disclosure forms into one integrated form, which, as you have heard, is called the TRID.

While the TRID forms were well intended to help ensure that home buyers receive essential information about the costs and terms of their home loan, the TRID rule has some unintended consequences on nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.

The TRID rule is a whopping 1,888 pages long and is very complicated. The forms include sections on balloon loans and adjustable-rate mortgages, things that may be relevant to traditional mortgage lenders but are not applicable to nonprofits that solely offer low-cost housing to needy families. The complex and complicated TRID forms cause confusion to Habitat home buyers, staff, and their volunteers.

Besides the complexity, the TRID disclosures require software for lenders to be able to fill them out, which has been too costly for many local Habitat organizations. The vast majority of the more than 1,200 local Habitat affiliates nationwide are small, community-based organizations with very small mortgage portfolios and few, if any, full-time staff.

These organizations have experienced challenges with the cost and complexity of these new mortgage disclosure forms. To address these problems, the BUILD Act relieves charities from the costs and the complexity of the TRID rule but ensures that the terms of these mortgage loans are disclosed.

Currently, all mortgage lenders making five or fewer loans a year are exempt from TRID and, instead, use the same mortgage disclosure forms that were in place before Dodd-Frank. The BUILD Act simply extends this exemption to nonprofits which are eligible for tax-exempt charitable donations and are making zero interest mortgage loans, regardless of how many mortgage loans they are making per year.

The BUILD Act will allow local Habitat organizations to choose whether to use the previous, simplified reporting or the more complex TRID reporting. The BUILD Act is supported by Habitat for Humanity International and the National Housing Conference.

In closing, I want to reiterate that the purpose of this bill is to help nonprofits spend more time fulfilling their

mission of providing low-cost housing to needy families and less time sitting in an office doing regulatory paperwork. The BUILD Act recognizes that one size does not fit all when it comes to regulating these charities and gives themselves the flexibility to choose which mortgage disclosure forms work best for them.

Mr. Speaker, the BUILD Act passed the Financial Services Committee with a unanimous vote of 53-0. I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Waters for yielding.

I want to begin by recognizing the good work of the ranking member and the chairman and their staffs in compiling this capital formation package. I want to compliment the legislative skill shown by the ranking member and her staff in securing minority bills in this package, which I recognize involved a lot of give and take.

We are a long ways from where this Chamber was a little over 13 months ago when we voted in a very partisan manner on the Financial CHOICE Act. I am proud to support this package which contains a number of priorities which I supported in committee and on the floor.

I worked on two of these bills with my colleagues, Congressmen Hill and Hultgren. While I know that there are many others who contributed to this package, I want to thank in particular Katelynn Bradley, Katy Strohmaier, and Lisa Peto of the ranking member's staff for helping draft these amendments that led to unanimous support for these two bills in committee.

First, the Options Markets Stability Act would direct the banking regulators to write rules to provide far more accurate circulations of counterparty credit risk for options and derivatives. Under the current exposure method used today, banks that centrally clear trades today on behalf of their clients must hold capital against the total notional value of any positions without regard for the way hedges offset risk.

This bill directs the regulators to implement a framework that incentivizes central clearing of options and derivatives, which is a major part of our response in the Dodd-Frank bill that has provided financial stability for the last 8 years.

The second bill is the Cooperate With Law Enforcement Agencies and Watch Act. This bill creates a safe harbor for financial institutions and money service businesses from the Bank Secrecy Act so long as they have a letter from law enforcement asking for a specific account to be kept open. Law enforcement agencies often send these letters so that they can follow the money and obtain crucial evidence in investigations. This bill will encourage bank cooperation with these letters which are otherwise optional because it eliminates a situation of technical noncompliance.

Other provisions in this package will improve transparency in markets which drives investor demand from around the world.

Other provisions in this bill will simply make our capital markets work better.

I applaud the bipartisanship of the ranking member and the chairman, and I look forward to further improvements in the regulatory landscape as our markets evolve.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.