Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 284.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize the Lexington Fire Department as they celebrate 150 years of service to the people of Lexington, Kentucky.

Lexington was founded in 1775 and quickly grew from a pioneer settlement into a village. Fire was a constant threat due to the number of wooden structures. The Lexington Fire Company was formed in May of 1790 and became the first fire department west of the Allegheny Mountains. Whenever a fire broke out in the early days of Lexington's history, all the able-bodied men, and oftentimes women, would show up, form a bucket brigade, and attempt to put out the fire. In August of 1871, two large fires destroyed significant portions of the city of Lexington. The Lexington Fire Company was then reorganized and the Lexington Fire Department as it is now known was created on September 7, 1871. The Department grew over the years, adding innovations such as call boxes and fire hydrants. The first horseless engine in Lexington was purchased in 1911. Other innovations included new fire stations, employee physicals, truck mounted radios and first aid. The Department also began to introduce public education and prevention efforts.

Over the 150 years of its existence, the Lexington Fire Department has protected the citizens of Lexington by responding to the threat of property loss, injury, and death caused by fire. The Department has made numerous changes over time to provide the best and most up to date services to meet the changing needs of the community.

Currently, the Lexington Fire Department serves as the Commonwealth of Kentucky's largest fire department. They operate out of 24 fire stations. They have responded to over 304,000 local emergencies in the past 5 years, with a current staff of 597 men and women and a budget of just over $80 million.

In 2018, the Department began its innovative and impressive Community Paramedicine Program, which enables firefighters to take a more comprehensive approach to the care of patients who depend highly on E- 911. This is resulting in saving lives and making a difference for Fayette County residents.

I congratulate chief Jason Wells and all the firefighters of the Lexington Fire Department on their 150th anniversary. It is my honor to remember the history and to recognize the brave men and women of the Lexington Fire Department before the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize a wonderful Kentucky business, Ruth Hunt Candies. The business, located in Mount Sterling, is celebrating 100 years of providing delicious candy to its customers.

Ruth Tharpe Hunt's family, friends, and especially her bridge club loved her homemade sweets. In 1921 she opened a small store in her home and began selling her candy to the public. The business quickly outgrew her home, and she built a small factory on Mt. Sterling's Main Street. Ruth Hunt ran the business with her daughter Emily Peck until the 1960s. Emily ran the business until 1988, when the Kezele family and Tobby Moore took over and expanded into a comprehensive factory complex. Throughout the years, the business has kept the same idea-- ``Produce the highest quality chocolates to make the customers happy.''

Favorite confections include Kentucky Pulled Cream Candy, Caramels, Mallows, and Kentucky Bourbon Balls. The company's most famous product, however, is Ruth Hunt's Blue Monday Bar. This product has been produced for over 80 years and has been called a ``Blue Monday'' ever since a traveling minister told Ruth Hunt that ``every Monday I must have a little sweet to help me through my blue Monday!''

Ruth Hunt Candies has stores in Mount Sterling and Lexington, Kentucky. Its products are sold in retail shops throughout the region and around the world. Products have been provided as gifts from the horse farms of the Bluegrass to the White House.

Over the past 100 years, Ruth Hunt Candies has provided high-quality candy to customers and jobs to the local economy. Started in Ms. Hunt's kitchen, the growth and longevity over 100 years is impressive. I congratulate this wonderful business on their 100th anniversary. It is my honor to recognize Ruth Hunt Candies before the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life of a great man, B. Wayne Hughes. Mr. Hughes, a prominent leader in the equine industry, lived in Lexington, Kentucky where he passed away on August 18, 2021.

Mr. Hughes was born in Oklahoma in 1933 where his father was a sharecropper. In the midst of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, his family moved to California when he was a child. After the family moved to California, his father took him to Santa Anita Park when he was 11 years old and first introduced him to horseracing. He had a strong work ethic, delivering newspapers to help pay for tuition to college. He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1957 and went on to serve as an officer in the United States Navy. Mr. Hughes became a very successful businessman and started companies including Public Storage and American Homes 4 Rent.

In 2002, Mr. Hughes retired as the CEO of Public Storage and devoted himself fully to horseracing. He raced his first champion in 2003, winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita. Mr. Hughes purchased Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Kentucky in 2004 and began restoring the historic 700-acre property. He worked diligently to make Spendthrift a successful breeding operation once again.

Mr. Hughes achieved great success as a racehorse owner, with six Breeders' Cup wins and six Eclipse Award wins. In 2020, his colt Authentic won the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup Classic. The colt retired to stud and was named North America's Horse of the Year for 2020. Mr. Hughes was passionate about the sport of horseracing and did much in his lifetime to improve and promote racing for future generations.

Mr. Hughes is survived by his wife Patricia, his son Wayne Jr., and his daughter Tamara Gustavson. B. Wayne Hughes was a legendary man who became one of horseracing's most influential leaders. He will be deeply missed. It is my honor to recognize his life before the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor a great American, James Stewart ``Jim'' McFarland. Mr. McFarland lives in North Middletown, Kentucky. He celebrates his 90th birthday on August 12th.

Mr. McFarland served our nation in the United States Army in the 1950's during the Korean Conflict. Following his military service, he returned to Bourbon County and worked in electronics repair.

In 1959, Mr. McFarland began serving the people of North Middletown as a volunteer firefighter. He became chief of the North Middletown Volunteer Fire Department in 1971. As Chief, he was instrumental in acquiring funds for and overseeing the construction of the fire station that is still in use today in North Middletown. He also was a key resource in the formation of the Little Rock Volunteer Fire Department. Mr. McFarland conducted numerous fire training classes both in Bourbon County and throughout Central Kentucky. Currently, Mr. McFarland serves as assistant fire chief for the North Middletown community.

In addition to his 62 years of service with the Fire Department, Mr. McFarland has participated in seven mission trips to Honduras where he used his carpentry skills on numerous construction projects. He also serves North Middletown Christian Church as an elder, a deacon, and property committee chair.

For all the ways that Mr. McFarland has served our nation and his community, he is to be commended and appreciated. It is my honor to recognize James Stewart McFarland on the occasion of his 90th birthday before the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a great American and my dear friend, Brian Schlifke, of Lexington, Kentucky.

Brian served in the United States Army Signal Corps during the Vietnam war, answering our Nation's call with valor through two tours. He was a specialist in communications and earned the Bronze Star and Combat Medal. He once said that he was ``no hero, just proud to have been of service to my fellow soldiers.''

He continued that spirit of service throughout his life, working diligently on behalf of other veterans. He was associated with the Vietnam Veterans of America and Kentucky's Sixth District Veterans Coalition.

Brian was a tireless advocate for his fellow veterans and worked in a positive way to bring about necessary legislative changes. He had a great spirit and a contagious smile, and his love for his country was unwavering.

Our Nation lost a true patriot when Brian passed away on June 20, 2021. Brian is survived by his wife, Anne, and many other family members.

It is my distinct honor, on behalf of a grateful Nation, to remember, recognize, and pay tribute to the exemplary life of Brian Schlifke.

Madam Speaker, I would like to honor a special Kentuckian, Senator Tom Buford, from Nicholasville, Kentucky.

Tom Buford was a lifelong Kentuckian. He was born in 1949 and graduated from Jessamine County High School and the University of Kentucky. Senator Buford received further education from the American Institute of Banking. He was elected to the Kentucky State Senate in 1991. He represented the people of Senate District 22 until his passing on July 6, 2021.

In Kentucky's Senate, Senator Buford served as Minority Whip from 1991-92 and Minority Caucus Chair from 1993-96. At the time of his death he held seats on the Licensing and Occupations, Appropriations and Revenue, and Banking and Insurance committees. In his more than thirty years in the Senate, he sponsored many important pieces of legislation. Senator Buford had a particular interest in support for the disabled and for animal welfare.

Senator Buford was highly regarded by his colleagues in the Kentucky Senate and by all who knew him. He was a great storyteller and he knew the value of humor. After serving for thirty years, he acquired great institutional knowledge of the Senate. He was known as a kind and humble man, a true servant leader. He leaves behind his wife Carol, children Stephanie and Beau, and his precious grandchildren. Senator Buford will be greatly missed.

It is my humble honor to lift up the memory of a great Kentucky gentleman and a dedicated leader, Senator Tom Buford, before the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, I would like to honor a special Kentuckian and a member of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team, Lee Kiefer, from Lexington, Kentucky.

At the age of 5, Ms. Kiefer began the sport of fencing. She participated in World Championships beginning in 2009, earning a team gold medal in 2018, a team silver medal in 2017, a team bronze medal in 2019, and an individual bronze medal in 2011. Ms. Kiefer competed in the Pan-American Games in 2011, earning gold team and individual medals, and in 2015, earning gold individual medal and a silver team medal. Ms. Kiefer was the youngest member of the 2009 U.S. Senior World Foil Team. In 2011, she was the only athlete in the world to have earned individual podium finishes at the senior, junior, and cadet world championships.

Representing the United States of America, Ms. Kiefer competed in the London Olympic Games in 2012, the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, and is currently on the team that will compete in the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Ms. Kiefer is the daughter of Steve and Teresa Kiefer. Her husband is also a member of Team USA, fellow fencer, Gerek Meinhardt. She is a graduate of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington, the University of Notre Dame, and is currently a student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

I wish all the best to this accomplished Kentucky athlete as she competes in Tokyo representing the United States. It is my honor to recognize Lee Kiefer before the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, I would like to honor a special Kentuckian and a member of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team, Gerek Meinhardt, from Lexington, Kentucky.

Mr. Meinhardt began the sport of fencing when he was 9 years old. In 2007, he qualified for the cadet, junior, and senior world teams all in the same year, becoming the first U.S. men's fencer ever to do so. In 2008, he was the youngest athlete ever to compete on a U.S. Fencing Team and was the youngest member of the 2008 Olympic Team in any sport. Mr. Meinhardt was a four-time NCAA All-American and was a two-time individual NCAA Champion in 2011 and 2014. Mr. Meinhardt was a member of the first U.S. Men's Foil Team to win a Senior World Championship title in 2019. He competed in the Pan-American Games in 2011, earning a gold team medal, and in 2015, earning another gold team medal and silver individual medal.

Representing the United States of America, Mr. Meinhardt competed in the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, the London Olympic Games in 2012, the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, and is currently on the team that will compete in the Tokyo Olympic Games. He earned a bronze medal in 2016.

Mr. Meinhardt is the son of Kurt and Jane Meinhardt. His wife is also a member of Team USA, fellow fencer Lee Kiefer. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and is currently a student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

I wish all the best to this accomplished Kentucky athlete as he competes in Tokyo representing the United States. It is my honor to recognize Gerek Meinhardt before the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, I rise today also in opposition to S.J. Resolution 15, the Congressional Review Act repeal of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's true lender rule.

The United States has the most vibrant and innovative financial system in the world. Recent advancements in technology have fostered products and partnerships that expand access to credit to large swaths of the population that previously couldn't access basic financial services.

Many of these innovations faced challenges from regulatory red tape or confusing and often conflicting rules. The OCC's true lender rule gave needed clarity to banks and their partners, fixing the disastrous Madden rule.

The OCC's true lender rule gave that clarity, but unfortunately, the effort in the House today threatens to undermine the progress that we have made and compromise underbanked individuals' and small businesses' access to financial services.

I spoke with a local Kentucky bank that partners with a nonbank fintech lender to provide credit to consumers, including many underbanked populations. They told me that absent the true lender rule, they will once again be buried in compliance costs to keep track of the patchwork of cases that dictate the rules of the road.

Rather than embrace innovation to deliver cost savings to their customers, many of whom have trouble accessing traditional financial services to begin with, the bank will need to retain thousand-dollar- an-hour New York lawyers just to keep everything straight. And guess what? Those costs get passed on to the consumer through higher prices or reduced product availability.

This is yet another example of the Democrats sacrificing good policy for the sake of political points, all under the guise of consumer protection.

Contrary to some of the rhetoric from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, a vote for this CRA will actually harm the very people they purport to be helping.

Madam Speaker, one final point. I include in the Record an April 14, 2021, letter to the chair of the Financial Services Committee from the former OCC Acting Comptroller Blake Paulson.

Office of the Comptroller

of the Currency,

Washington, DC, April 14, 2021.

Hon. Maxine Waters,

Chairwoman, Committee on Financial Services, House of

Representatives, Washington, DC.

Hon. Patrick McHenry,

Ranking Member, Committee on Financial Services, House of

Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairwoman Waters and Ranking Member McHenry: On March

26, 2021, H.J. Res. 35 was introduced, providing for

Congressional disapproval under the Congressional Review Act

of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's (OCC)

final rule, entitled ``National Banks and Federal Savings

Associations as Lenders,'' commonly referred to as the ``True

Lender'' rule. As you and other members consider the

resolution, I want you to be aware of the rule's intended

effect and the adverse impact of overturning the rule.

On October 27, 2020, the OCC issued its final true lender

rule to provide legal and regulatory certainty to national

banks' and federal savings associations' (banks) lending,

including loans made in partnerships with third parties. The

OCC's rule specifies that a bank makes a loan and is

considered to be the true lender of the loan if, as of the

date of origination, it (1) is named as the lender in the

loan agreement or (2) funds the loan. The rule clarifies that

as the true lender of a loan, the bank retains the compliance

obligations associated with making the loan, even if the loan

is later sold, thus negating concerns regarding harmful rent-

a-charter arrangements. Our rulemaking prevents potential

arrangements in which a bank receives a fee to ``rent'' its

charter and unique legal status to a third party with the

intent of evading state and local laws, while disclaiming any

compliance responsibility for the loan. These schemes have

absolutely no place in the federal banking system, and this

rule helps address them.

The rule makes clear banks' responsibility and

accountability for the loans they make and facilitates the

OCC's supervision of this core banking activity. Disapproval

of the rule would return bank lending relationships to the

previous state of legal and regulatory uncertainty, which, as

nearly 50 preeminent economic and finance scholars explained

in January 2021, adversely affects the function of secondary

markets and restricts the availability of credit.

Legal and regulatory certainty facilitates access to

responsible credit and clarifies responsibility and

accountability in lending involving third-party partnerships.

Bank third-party partnerships help banks better serve their

communities by expanding access to affordable credit products

from mainstream financial service providers. Such access is

particularly important as individuals and small businesses

across the country work to recover from effects of the COVID-

19 pandemic. Banks seek partnerships with third parties for a

variety of legitimate reasons, including reaching additional

markets, benefiting from specific expertise or technology,

and improving the efficiency and cost of their own

operations. The OCC's third-party risk management guidance

and supplemental exam procedures make clear to banks that

they retain the risks for activities conducted through

relationships with third parties.

With the legal and regulatory certainty provided by the

rule, lending by banks made in partnership with third parties

can be assessed as part of the ongoing supervision of these

banks, including as part of the OCC's examinations to

evaluate bank compliance with applicable laws and regulations

that ensure consumer protection, Bank Secrecy Act and anti-

money laundering compliance, required disclosures, and other

obligations associated with making loans. The OCC clarified

examiner responsibilities in assessing true lender activities

in third-party relationships in 202l. This clarification

addressed considerations related to assessing banks' due

diligence on the lending product or activity (e.g., terms and

scope) and the third party; credit risk management, including

underwriting practices; model risk management; compliance

management systems; and ongoing monitoring of the lending

activity and the third party's performance.

If a bank fails to satisfy any of its compliance

obligations, the OCC will not hesitate to use its supervisory

and enforcement authorities to correct the deficiencies,

protect consumers, and ensure the federal banking system

operates in a safe, sound, and fair manner.

As you consider the Congressional Review Act resolution,

you should be confident that the OCC issued this rule with

the intent to enhance its ability to supervise bank lending.

The rulemaking conformed to the Administrative Procedure Act,

and the agency considered all stakeholder comments provided

during the rulemaking process. The resulting rule is

consistent with the authority granted to the agency by

Congress.

It is also important to dispel misperceptions of the rule,

many of which are repeated by opponents of the rule. To be

clear, the rule does not change banks' authority to export

interest rates. That authority is granted by federal statute.

Nor does the rule permit national banks to charge whatever

rate they like; national banks and federal savings

associations have the same authority as state banks regarding

the exportation of interest rates. Both federal and state-

chartered banks must conform to applicable interest rate

limits. Disparities of interest rates from state to state

result from differences in the state laws that impose these

caps, not OCC rules or actions. States retain the authority

to set interest rates, and rates vary from state-to-state.

The rule does not limit states' ability to regulate the

conduct of state-licensed and regulated nonbank lenders,

which engage in the vast majority of predatory lending.

States are the primary regulators of nonbank lenders,

including payday lenders. Nonbank lenders are generally also

subject to the rules and enforcement actions of the Consumer

Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

It is also important to understand why demand exists for

short-term, small-dollar credit products and why many

consumers rely on nonbank sources of such credit, including

payday lenders. Unfortunately, mainstream service providers,

including commercial banks, largely abandoned short-term

small-dolJar lending over the past two decades. The resulting

lack of choice and fewer options pushed up the cost of these

products and forced consumers to seek services on less

favorable terms. Because millions of U.S. consumers do not

have sufficient savings or access to traditional credit, they

borrow nearly $90 billion each year in short-term small-

dollar loans typically ranging from $300 to $5,000 to make

ends meet and to address things like emergency car repairs

and other unexpected expenses. That is why the OCC has

remained vocal about encouraging banks to provide consumers

with more safe and affordable options to meet these small-

dollar needs. In providing these products, banks should

consider the ``Interagency Lending Principles for Offering

Responsible Small-Dollar Loans,'' published in May 2020.

Banks should also consider the full and actual cost of a

credit product and its affordability. Fees associated with

short-term loans may range from $10 to $30 per $100 borrowed,

and the imputed annual percentage rate (APR) of those loans

can appear to exceed 100 percent or more. But often, the fees

and total cost of these loans to the consumer can be less

than that of loans made with a 36 percent APR, when such

loans are available at all.

As you consider the Congressional Review Act resolution,

please keep in mind what may be an unintended consequence of

a Congressional Review Act disapproval. Disapproving the

OCC's true lender rule will constrain future Comptroller

ability to address the true lender issue and may limit the

OCC's ability to take supervisory or enforcement actions

against banks that would have been deemed to have ``made''

the loan under the true lender rule. Rather than vacate the

rule, limit future Comptrollers from taking up similar rules

or possibly hamstring the OCC's enforcement authority,

changes to the rule, if any, should be made through the

agency's rulemaking process and in accordance with the

Administrative Procedures Act.

Enclosed is a fact sheet that provides additional

information for your awareness. If you have any questions or

need additional information, please do not hesitate to

contact me or Carrie Moore, Director, Congressional

Relations.

Sincerely,

Blake J. Paulson,

Acting Comptroller of the Currency.

The point I want to highlight is that the former Acting Comptroller was making the point that disapproving the OCC's true lender rule will constrain a future Comptroller's ability to address the true lender issue and limit the OCC's ability to take supervisory or enforcement actions against banks that would have been deemed to have made the loan under the true lender rule; meaning that the way the CRA law operates, if the House passes this resolution, we will have a permanent problem in the credit markets that will deprive low- and moderate-income Americans of the financial products that they desperately need.

That is why I urge all my colleagues to reject this misguided proposal.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the importance of our Nation's infrastructure and how to rebuild our transportation system the right way.

While we are hearing about the various proposals from Congress and the administration that would raise taxes or add to the deficit to spend hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars on infrastructure, I would suggest that this body take a closer look at how frequently infrastructure can be built effectively without further burdening the taxpayer or our children for generations to come.

As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, I hear routinely from the private sector, the financial services industry, banks, insurance companies, asset managers, pension funds, private equity firms, life insurance firms, and the like that trillions of dollars of private capital is readily available to efficiently rebuild our Nation's infrastructure without undermining American competitiveness through higher taxes.

Public-private partnerships utilize the best features of the public sector and the private sector to finance, design, build, and even operate our critical infrastructure necessary to support safe and efficient channels of commerce, grow our economy, and sustain our quality of life.

The best example I have seen comes from my own State of Kentucky, where the small community of Brandenburg partnered with a contractor, The Walker Company, and GRW Engineers, to design, build, and finance a new wastewater treatment plant for Brandenburg. This project had significant urgency due to the announcement that Nucor Steel intended to build a new $1.7 billion steel mill on the property that included the site of the existing treatment plant.

The P3 delivery method, authorized by Kentucky statutes passed in 2016, was utilized to cut $3.5 million in cost from the $8.3 million project and to save at least one year over the normal taxpayer- financed, design-bid-build process.

Relocating this plant in a timely and cost-effective manner allowed Nucor Steel to begin construction of its facility, which soon will bring over 400 good-paying jobs to the region.

Mr. Speaker, whatever infrastructure bill emerges from this Congress, I would urge my colleagues to reject the Biden administration's call for growth-destroying tax increases and instead look to America's deep and liquid capital markets as the solution and use public-private partnerships as a significant feature of the legislation.

Recognizing Our Nation's Police Officers

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize our Nation's police officers and honor the sacrifices that many brave men and women of law enforcement make every single day.

We mourn for Detective James Kirk, Officer Martez Hughes, and Special Deputy Sheriff Lee Daniel Manns from Kentucky, as well as the hundreds of other law enforcement officers from across the country who have given their lives in the line of duty over the last year.

Beginning in 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed into law a proclamation designating May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the week in which that date falls as National Police Week. Republicans and Democrats continued the tradition of honoring officers who serve and officers who died in the line of duty each year since.

Sadly, Mr. Speaker, President Biden broke this tradition in his proclamation on May 7 and politicized this year's National Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day by criticizing police for the distrust that some Americans have of law enforcement.

Mr. Speaker, blaming the police for the increase in antipolice sentiment is not how we honor those who swear an oath to uphold public trust, even though the officers may become targets for senseless acts of violence.

According to the FBI's Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted database, fatal felony attacks on officers spiked 31.6 percent in early 2021. This comes on the heels of our Nation's major cities, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, all vowing to defund their police departments. It is no wonder why these cities have tragically seen a devastating and dramatic increase in homicides and shootings in 2021. This is what you get when you call for defunding the police.

To our brave law enforcement officers who protect and serve our communities, I stand with you, and I am grateful for all you do to keep us safe.

I will always defend and fight against defunding the police.

Honoring Sheila Currans

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a dedicated leader in rural healthcare.

After 48 years, Sheila Currans retires as the CEO of Harrison Memorial Hospital. Mrs. Currans' service began as a high school candy striper. She served as a medical-surgical nurse, an ICU/CCU head nurse, and supervisor of nursing. She led for 5 years as COO and then was named CEO in 2009.

Harrison Memorial Hospital, located in rural Cynthiana, Kentucky, serves people from a seven-county region and is one of the few remaining independent, not-for-profit hospitals in Kentucky.

The people of Harrison County and the surrounding counties have been fortunate to have a great leader in Mrs. Currans and her passion for healthcare excellence, leadership experience, and understanding of rural healthcare needs. She will be missed, and I wish Sheila Currans all the best in her well-deserved retirement.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Michigan.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 1187, with all due respect to my good friends from California and Illinois. We have enjoyed a robust discussion and debate on this, which I would argue is a very important topic.

Mr. Speaker, the statutory mission of the Securities and Exchange Commission is to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation. Its mission, though, is not to reduce carbon emissions. Its mission is not to solve climate change.

Now, those may be laudable public policy objectives, but they are best handled by the Congress or other Federal agencies. This is simply not the job of the SEC.

This bill is, unfortunately, the next episode in the Democrats' saga to weaponize financial regulation to achieve partisan social and environmental goals. Congressional Democrats and the Biden administration know that they cannot pass the Green New Deal and other extreme far-left policy priorities through a Democrat-majority Congress, so they are corrupting an independent Federal financial regulator to do their bidding.

The majority claims that this bill is an effort to improve corporate governance when, in reality, it is a thinly veiled attempt to open a back door to achieve their socialist wish list and cut off financing to legal but politically unfashionable industries that they despise.

The result will be higher energy costs for the American people, a regressive energy tax on the people in this country who can the least afford it.

As always, the Democrats think that the government knows best and is better equipped than the private market to meet demand. They give no consideration to the impacts of significant cost increases, the bill's effect on retail investors, or the actual utility of the information they are requesting and its materiality for informing investment decisions.

My friend from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) made this point. But the seminal Supreme Court case that defines the materiality standard was TSC Industries v. Northway. In that majority opinion, Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote, and it bears repeating: ``If the standard of materiality is unnecessarily low, not only may the corporation and its management be subjected to liability for insignificant omissions or misstatements, but also management's fear of exposing itself to substantial liability may cause it simply to bury the shareholders in an avalanche of trivial information, a result that is hardly conducive to informed decisionmaking.''

So, this is not about investor protection. This is about weaponizing Federal securities law to discriminate against law-abiding American energy companies. This is an effort to pick winners and losers in the marketplace by the government. It is an effort for central planning of our economy. It is not about markets. This is about market distortion by the Federal Government.

In committee, I tried to make a commonsense change to ensure the bill covers only material information so that investors aren't buried by that avalanche. The majority rejected my amendment. This shows they are more interested in naming and shaming companies than providing useful information to investors.

Mr. Speaker, my last point is this: the job of the SEC is to protect investors, but this bill would compromise investor returns by elevating nonpecuniary factors above and ahead of financial performance.

How do we know this? Because fees of ESG funds are 43 percent higher than non-ESG funds. And many low-ranked ESG stocks not only outperformed top-ranked ESG stocks, they outperformed the market overall.

We must not harm American investors. We must not harm American retirement savers by subordinating investor returns to promote nonpecuniary policy objectives like social justice, diversity quotas, and lower carbon emissions.

Financial regulations should not be a tool for social change.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, once again, the bill we have been considering today is puzzling for Republicans, as it probably is for a large number of my Democratic friends as well.

On the one hand, the far left seeks to blame so much of what is bad in the world on large public companies. But then they turn around and claim that these same companies will see the light and embrace extreme leftwing policies if only they disclose more of their activities in obscure SEC reports. Mind you, these are perfectly legal activities, too.

But no serious Member of the House can believe the world works like this. The far left wants to claim they are heroes using the Securities and Exchange Commission to fight the scourges of our time, from foreign dictatorships to environmental degradation. But in reality, they are weaponizing financial regulation, and their support for this bill comes in the form of empty political rhetoric masquerading as sound corporate governance. Make no mistake, Mr. Speaker, this bill is about politicizing securities regulation.

Far from this fantasy land live the majority of House Members who understand that there are actual urgent problems we can solve only if we work together to address them.

Perhaps the gravest of these problems is represented by the goals of the Chinese Communist Party, which is perpetrating the great crime of our age against the Uighurs and other minorities in China. Beijing is also working to stamp out the vibrant democratic

culture in Hong Kong, hoping all the while that Congress will look the other way.

If we are truly concerned by public companies that may be working with bad actors--particularly bad actors responsible for China's worst human rights abuses--then burying their names on the SEC's website will achieve absolutely nothing. We need to ensure that they are referred to the Treasury Department so that we can impose sanctions, and that is what my motion to recommit will do.

Under this MTR, instead of reporting on malign Chinese companies to the SEC--an agency that has long acknowledged its lack of expertise and, frankly, its lack of capability and interest in pursuing foreign policy goals--we will instead make sure that entities in corporate supply chains are flagged for the Treasury when public companies have reason to believe they are involved in atrocities in Xinjiang, from mass surveillance to forced labor and other violations of basic human rights.

Companies will also be able to sound the alarm on entities complicit in China's assault on Hong Kong's freedoms, allowing OFAC at the Treasury to determine whether it can impose new sanctions.

We must cut off offenders from the global economy until China changes course. We must rely on appeals to their bottom line and not their conscience. That is the power of U.S. sanctions.

Mr. Speaker, if we adopt the motion to recommit, we will instruct the Committee on Financial Services to consider my amendment to H.R. 1178. My amendment doesn't pretend we can fight genocide, authoritarianism, mass detentions, mass surveillance, and other human rights violations with meaningless rhetoric on corporate transparency, none of which keeps China's leaders up at night.

There are over 1 million Uighurs detained in China and over 100 facilities covering millions of square feet suspected as sites of forced labor. It is an insult to Beijing's victims to claim that disclosure tweaks from the SEC will stop this. Securities regulation will not stop this.

Mr. Speaker, we can either pass half measures that we know won't work and then wring our hands later when the problem remains unresolved, or we can articulate what we want to target and take real action. The former is beneath the dignity of this House.

Measly disclosures in securities filings, transforming 10-Ks from 100 pages to thousands of pages, that is not going to solve the problem. The former is beneath the dignity of the House. The latter is embodied in my amendment: sanctions, OFAC using the power of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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

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

Madam Speaker, I would like to honor a special Kentuckian, Mr. James Fraley, from Bath County, Kentucky.

Mr. Fraley was born May 7, 1928 in Midland, Kentucky to World War I veteran Burns Fraley and Austa Fraley. He graduated from Salt Lick High School in 1948. After graduation, he enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he served in Korea, Japan, and stateside for 4 years. He was honorably discharged in October of 1954.

Following his military service, Mr. Fraley worked as one of the early Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline employees in Wyoming for 35 years. After retiring, he drove a bus for Bath County Schools for 20 years, worked at Keeneland, was a 30-year member of the University of Kentucky's 101 Club, and served on the Owingsville City Council. He was a 71-year member of the Free and Accepted Masons of Kentucky, where he served in several leadership roles. Mr. Fraley was also a member of the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Oleika Shrine Temple, and the Royal Order of Scotland. In 2018, Mr. Fraley received the Bath County Community Service Award in recognition for all the help and support he provided to an untold number of children in need of medical assistance through the Shriners Hospital. Mr. Fraley was a servant leader who believed in helping others, particularly children.

Mr. Fraley was married to his late wife Becky for 65 years and they had four children. Through his service to his country and to his local community, Mr. Fraley certainly left a positive mark on this world. Mr. Fraley, a great American, passed away on March 19, 2021. I am humbled to honor the memory of Mr. James Fraley before the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Chester Wilson from Lexington, Kentucky. Mr. Wilson bravely served our nation during World War II. He currently resides at Thomson-Hood Veterans Center in Wilmore, Kentucky. On April 25, Mr. Wilson celebrated his 107th birthday.

Mr. Wilson graduated from Lexington's Bryan Station High School. He was the first member of his family to graduate. At the age of 29, he enlisted in the United States Navy. He served aboard the U.S.S. Benevolence, a Navy hospital ship, in the Pacific Theater. He was a pharmacist mate 3rd class.

After the war, Mr. Wilson worked as a federal agent at bourbon distilleries and later worked for the Treasury Department. He retired in 1974. He and his late wife Margaret have a daughter, Brenda Wilson, a stepson Jack Whitaker, and two grandchildren.

It is my honor to recognize this amazing patriot, celebrate his 107th birthday, and appreciate him for his service and sacrifice to our nation during World War II. As a part of ``The Greatest Generation'', Mr. Wilson was an important part of the war effort to preserve the freedoms that we enjoy today. I am forever grateful for Americans like Chester Wilson.