To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to specify certain registration statement contents for emerging growth companies, to permit issuers to file draft registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission for confidential review, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bipartisan bill, the Senior Security Act, to help protect vulnerable seniors who are being targeted by fraudsters who seek to take financial advantage of them.

I first thank my colleague, Republican Congresswoman Ann Wagner, for her friendship and her leadership. I am very grateful for her continued fight to have the backs of our seniors.

Mr. Speaker, I also thank Senators Sinema and Collins, who have introduced the companion legislation to the Senior Security Act in the United States Senate.

This legislation builds on Congresswoman Wagner's and my previous

work this Congress when we advanced the Financial Exploitation Prevention Act that would give asset managers more tools to prevent suspected financial exploitation of seniors and vulnerable adults.

Since I took office, I have been committed to helping seniors save their hard-earned money for retirement, help cut their taxes, afford prescription drugs, and protect Social Security and Medicare so that, at the end of the day, they can afford to stay where I live in northern New Jersey and enjoy their lives with their friends, children, and grandchildren.

Unfortunately, far too many of our seniors have had their hard-earned retirement savings stolen right out from under them when a scammer calls or shows up at their door. Millions of seniors across the country, including my own late mother, have been the victims of financial scams, and far too many have been cheated out of their retirement savings.

It is appalling. It is offensive. It is simply unacceptable. These senior scams cost older Americans more than $36 billion a year, often hitting their retirement nest eggs, not to mention the pain and anxiety you can't put a dollar figure on. Plus, senior scams have more than doubled since 2020.

We are here today to do something about it by advancing the Senior Security Act to help protect American seniors from these shameless criminals.

This bipartisan bill would create a senior investor task force at the Securities and Exchange Commission that will exclusively focus on how seniors are being targeted by fraudsters who seek to take financial advantage of them.

Every 2 years, the task force will be required to submit a report to Congress outlining trends and innovations, like robocalls and voice spoofing, that are impacting senior investors, helping us stay ahead of changes in financial scams as they arise.

Everyone should know they are incredibly sophisticated now. Literally through AI and other spoofing, it sounds like someone's grandchild calling when they scam them.

The task force will give law enforcement stronger tools and information. The task force will coordinate with other Federal regulators, State regulators, and law enforcement to ensure we are doing as much as we can at every level of government to stop hucksters from scamming our seniors. The task force will be a cop on the beat to make sure we keep up with the changes in financial scams and, again, stay ahead of new issues.

Our seniors have given us so much. We should always have their backs, look out for them, and help protect them from predators and innovative scammers who want to take advantage of them.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense, bipartisan legislation, the Senior Security Act. I thank my colleagues and Congresswoman Wagner, again, for her friendship and her leadership.

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

Mr. Speaker, I do have a question for the chairwoman of our subcommittee. We are taking these bills in a different order than I was told. We are now dealing with H.R. 2593. Will we then return to H.R. 2608 and H.R. 2610?

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Missouri.

Mr. Speaker, the one person that may be most surprised by us going out of order is the author of this bill, Mr. Gottheimer. I know he is on his way now to this floor, so in order for him to get here before he would have expected to be needed, I will speak very slowly.

Mr. Speaker, I rise slowly in support of H.R. 2593, the Senior Security Act sponsored by the gentleman from New Jersey, who is on his way to this floor right now.

Scams targeting seniors, which can include harassing robocalls and phone calls impersonating the government, cost older Americans more than $36 billion a year, according to the National Council on Aging. According to AARP, these kinds of senior scams have more than doubled just since 2020.

Financial scams can leave a devastating and lasting impact on our seniors, causing significant financial loss. Recovering lost funds is a very challenging process, and in many cases, the money is simply not retrieved.

Scams also lead to significant emotional distress, resulting in feelings of embarrassment, guilt, shame, and a diminished sense of self-worth. The emotional impact can exacerbate health conditions or lead to depression and anxiety. Once scammed, seniors might lose trust in people, which can lead to further isolation and reluctance to seek help.

Mr. Gottheimer's bill takes key steps to help protect older Americans nationwide from getting scammed out of their hard-earned money by establishing a senior investor task force within the SEC. This task force must report on topics relating to investors over the age of 65 and make recommendations for actions to address problems encountered by senior investors.

I will also point out that this is important for our capital markets and for companies trying to raise money because every time a senior is subject to one of these scams, others become less interested in investing, and we need Americans to feel that they are protected and not cheated when they invest in stocks, bonds, and our capital markets.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I am pleased that the gentleman from New Jersey has arrived, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer), the author of this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill passed in committee 49-0. Our seniors are particularly vulnerable to financial scams. As Members of Congress, we must work to find effective ways to protect seniors from scamsters and fraudsters.

Mr. Gottheimer's bill, a bill I commend him for drafting and one that, once again, got 49 votes to 0 in our committee--I commend him for crafting this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2593) to create an interdivisional taskforce at the Securities and Exchange Commission for senior investors, 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 the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2593, the Senior Security Act. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill, and I thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, Representatives Gottheimer and Lawler, for working on this important piece of bipartisan legislation that will assist in the protection of our senior investors.

Fraud and exploitation of any kind in our capital markets threaten the integrity of our markets. It is especially problematic when such fraudulent activity targets senior investors.

According to some reports, around 20 percent of senior investors fall prey to fraudulent investment schemes. Similar reports show that seniors lose nearly $3 billion annually from financial fraud and exploitation.

The Senior Security Act is designed to support and enhance efforts to protect against and prevent the financial exploitation of senior investors.

This bill establishes the senior investors task force within the Securities and Exchange Commission, which must report on industry trends and serious issues impacting investors over the age of 65. The task force will also help inform policymaking in Washington by making recommendations for legislative or regulatory actions to address problems encountered by our senior investors.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2593 has received very strong bipartisan support in the past, passing by suspension in both the 116th and 117th Congresses. It remains a sensible solution to ensure that senior investors receive adequate protection against fraud and exploitation.

For this reason, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2593, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield for the purpose of a colloquy?

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to inform the ranking member that we may be a bit out of order here. My deepest apologies, and we will be returning to that order right after this bill is finished.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, am pleased to see that the author of the bill, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer), is here to speak on his very fine piece of legislation that we are all supportive of, in a bipartisan manner, H.R. 2593, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 2593, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 2593, a wonderful piece of bipartisan legislation that is going to help our seniors have the kind of financial security that they need going forward.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2610) to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to specify certain registration statement contents for emerging growth companies, to permit issuers to file draft registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission for confidential review, 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 such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2610, a bill to harmonize the emerging growth company, EGC, financial statement requirements originally enacted in the JOBS Act of 2012.

I thank my colleague, and our esteemed chair of the Financial Services Committee, Chairman McHenry, for his leadership on this important piece of bipartisan legislation that will attract companies to go public here in the United States.

Title I of the bipartisan JOBS Act of 2012 established a new class of public companies, or issuers, called emerging growth companies, to attract small companies to go public and reverse the steady decline of small initial public offerings, IPOs, in American capital markets.

Under the JOBS Act, EGCs are granted scaled reporting and disclosure requirements for a limited time after they go public. This attractive accommodation allows the company to grow before absorbing the costly regulatory burdens faced by large public companies.

One accommodation EGCs may take advantage of under the JOBS Act is providing 2 years of audited financial statements rather than 3 years when conducting an IPO.

Sometimes an EGC in its entirety does not undertake an IPO and instead spins off a segment of its business as a new company and takes that spin-off public. However, spin-offs of an EGC may not take advantage of the 2-year financial statement accommodation.

The EGC financial statement accommodations should apply equally, whether an EGC is conducting an IPO or spinning off a segment of its business and taking that company public.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2610 ensures consistency and equal application by clarifying that an EGC may present 2 years rather than 3 years of audited financial statements in both IPOs and spinoff transactions.

Mr. Speaker, for this reason, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2610, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry), the chairman of the full Financial Services Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I simply urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2610, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Wagner for her great leadership on the committee.

Mr. Speaker, I think it has been well-explained about emerging growth companies. We have had a nice discussion here on the House floor of what we had done in Congress 11 years ago to ensure that fast-growing, smaller companies can access our capital markets and do so with less regulatory burden, enticing them into our public markets, which enable average, everyday investors to have more investment opportunities and ownership of American society, as well.

Speaking to that, this bill clarifies the periods for which financial statements are required to be provided by an emerging growth company when conducting a spinoff transaction. This legislation will strengthen public markets by addressing an irregularity that was not addressed under the JOBS Act of 2012 and ensure consistent treatment for emerging growth companies, whether they are going public or spinning off a portion of their business.

Mr. Speaker, I have talked about the positive impact of emerging growth companies and of the JOBS Act, generally, since it was enacted into law. At that period of time, in 2012, you had a Republican House of Representatives, a Democrat Senate, a Democrat in the White House, and very few things got done.

President Obama at the time wanted to address the jobs challenge in American society and wanted us to change law and regulations so that we can actually lift people out of poverty and back into the workforce.

Those were some very important things that we discussed that Congress, but the foremost of that was the legislating we did out of the Financial Services Committee, which culminated in the passage of what was called the JOBS Act.

One of the best provisions in the JOBS Act was the emerging growth companies' section of that, or title of that bill, and that is what we are talking about and speaking of on this day.

What we are trying to do is tweak that law to make sure it functions appropriately. Like all things, whether it is your home, legislation, or your car, you want to adjust it from time to time to make sure it is running the way you intended it to run. That is what we are doing here today with these small changes to the emerging growth companies' statute and the JOBS Act.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this important provision.