Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this moment to honor the life and sacrifice of a World War II sailor, Petty Officer Second Class (PO2) Albert Martin, of Morris Creek, Kentucky.

During World War II, PO2 Albert Martin served as a member of the United States Navy and was assigned to the USS Indianapolis. On July 30, 1945, while sailing in the Philippine Sea, multiple torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine struck the USS Indianapolis. This caused catastrophic damage to the hull of the U.S. naval vessel, which resulted in its rapid sinking.

Sadly, PO2 Martin was among the roughly 800 officers and sailors that day who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and perished while defending freedom. At the time of his passing, PO2 Martin was survived by his wife, Ruth Faulkner, and their three children, C.B., Danny, and Carol Jean.

PO2 Martin served this nation proudly, answering the call of duty in order to defend liberty and prevent the Axis Powers threat from arriving on our shores.

Because of PO2 Martin's sacrifice and that of his fellow men and women in uniform, our American freedoms have been protected for many generations. He was truly an outstanding American and endures as an inspiration to us all.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this moment to recognize the life and legacy of an inspirational woman, Ms. Karen Tufts. Ms. Tufts passed away in Lexington, Kentucky on April 6, 2014 at the age of 80 but still lives inside the hearts of the many individuals she touched.

Ms. Tufts dedicated her life to helping others. As a Military Sexual Assault Therapist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Ms. Tufts treated numerous survivors of military sexual trauma (MST). Even after retirement, Ms. Tufts continued to follow her passion to help survivors of MST by opening up her home to counsel men and women known affectionately as ``Karen's Survivors.''

It was these survivors' stories about the positive impact her care had on their lives that led me to introduce H.R. 3775, the Karen Tufts Military Sexual Assault Victims Empowerment Act, also known as the Karen Tufts Military SAVE Act. This legislation follows the example set by Ms. Tufts, which would empower survivors of military sexual trauma to select their own care providers and provide the support these brave service members have earned.

While we grieve the loss of this great American, we also honor her life and her devotion to helping others by continuing the important work of supporting survivors of MST.

Mr. Speaker, today we have a chance to change the lives of hundreds of American families, including three families in the Sixth District of Kentucky. One of these is the Hatton family, who are sitting in the gallery here today.

These families have legally adopted children from the Democratic Republic of Congo, but have been unable to bring their children home because their exit permits have been unfairly halted.

After learning of their struggles, I have been working closely with the Department of State and advocating on their behalf because no family should be faced with the choice of leaving the newest member of their family in another country or remaining in the Congo, further splitting up their family and causing a tremendous amount of uncertainty and heartache.

We must do everything in our power to help these American citizens and facilitate the travel of their adopted children home to join their family in the United States.

That is why I am a cosponsor of this resolution and thank the member from Minnesota for his leadership and support on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishments of Lieutenant Colonel Christopher A. Grice, a true American hero. His achievements are shining examples of dedication and loyalty to the state of Kentucky, and his country.

Colonel Grice was originally commissioned through the Reserve Officer Training Course (ROTC) as a Distinguished Military Graduate after graduating with a Bachelor of Science from Southern Illinois University. Colonel Grice continued his education by later earning a Master of Science degree in Environmental Management from Webster University.

His military career as a commissioned officer began as the Battalion Chemical Officer of the 1st Battalion in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he also served as a Support Platoon Leader. Colonel Grice led the Blue Grass Chemical Activity's workforce through the Rocket Separation Operation. The operation was deemed successful due to Colonel Grice's commitment to safety and stakeholder involvement. Perhaps Colonel Grice's greatest attribute is his leadership abilities. After facing a government shutdown and a moratorium on hiring during his command, Colonel Grice's ability to maintain a high morale while meeting all regulatory requirements is truly admirable.

Several military decorations Colonel Grice has received throughout his impressive career including the Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, Army Service Ribbon and the Overseas Service Ribbon. These awards are only a small testament to Colonel Grice's service to our armed services.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues join me in congratulating Colonel Christopher A. Grice on his life of superior excellence, service and loyalty. His service to the state of Kentucky is greatly appreciated and we look forward to seeing what Colonel Grice accomplishes in the future. I would also like to extend my personal gratitude to Colonel Grice for all that he has done for the United States military, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and to continue the reading of the Declaration of Independence:

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has

endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the

merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an

undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and

conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for

Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have

been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose

character is thus marked by every act which may define a

Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

I yield to my friend from Pennsylvania.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Living Arts and Science Center of Lexington, Kentucky on the groundbreaking of their new facility, the ``Lucille Caudill Little Discovery Center.''

The Living Arts & Science Center, LASC, was created as a not-for- profit organization in 1968 to provide opportunities for exploration and education in the arts and sciences. Since then, the LASC has become a stimulating force and creative resource for Central Kentuckians. Through dynamic arts and science programming, the LASC has fostered exploration and inspired creativity among children

and adults, schools, and organizations around the region. With the addition of the ``Lucille Caudill Little Discovery Center,'' the LASC will now be able to offer even more hands-on learning opportunities with additional science and art classrooms, as well as a Digital Art Studio and a Clay Studio.

The Living Arts & Science Center is especially important to me as it has hosted my annual Congressional Art Competition for the past two years. I am proud to see this organization expand to offer more programs and activities centered on arts and science. I commend them for their dedication to education and community outreach, and know this expansion will further enhance the Sixth District members' understanding and appreciation for the arts and sciences.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an outstanding individual, Mr. Noble W. Adams of Owingsville, Kentucky, for his distinguished military service during World War II. Mr. Adams served our Nation in uniform from December 14, 1943 to November 21, 1945.

As a young man, Mr. Adams began his service in the United States Army as a private first class, rfleman, within the 945th Infantry. During the United States' campaign to achieve victory over the Axis Powers, Mr. Adams entered the war by storming the deadly beaches of Nomandy, fought his way across Europe, and did not stop until the Allies achieved victory in Germany.

Mr. Adams recalls bidding farewell to the Statue of Liberty as he departed from New York in 1943 as a passenger aboard the Susan Elizabeth. He thought he would never see the Statue or his family ever again.

During combat on November 9, 1944, Mr. Adams received injuries to both of his eyes, leaving him temporarily blinded as a result of shrapnel from exploding ordnance. After only two weeks of recovering in a medical field camp, and understanding the dangers ahead, Mr. Adams courageously returned to the battlefield and kept fighting. To this day, fragments of shrapnel still remain lodged in his face.

Mr. Adams is grateful that the Lord was with him throughout the war and protected him so that he could once again greet Lady Liberty and reunite with his family. He returned home safely on November 21, 1945. Mr. Adams is comforted in the knowledge that the Lord remains with him to this day.

Mr. Adams fought to preserve the very freedoms the Statue of Liberty represents. He is truly an outstanding American, a protector of freedom, and an inspiration to us all.

Mr. Speaker, recently, some politicians in Washington and even back in my home State of Kentucky have held out Kentucky's online exchange, or Kentucky Kynect, as a model for how the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, can be implemented successfully. They argue that ObamaCare is working in Kentucky.

While it is true that, unlike the billion dollar malfunctioning healthcare.gov Web site, the Kentucky Kynect Web site has appeared to function properly, but that is about all that works well.

ObamaCare is making life harder for most Kentucky families and small businesses, driving up premiums and deductibles, taking away choices of doctors and hospitals, and forcing people to lose the insurance coverage that they liked. The President promised that: if you like your health care plan, you will get to keep it.

But 280,000 of my fellow Kentuckians have lost the health insurance that they had, the health insurance that they liked. The government is taking away choices. Patients, families, and doctors should be in control of their health care, but ObamaCare takes choices away from people.

One insurance broker in Kentucky told me that insurance on the Kentucky Kynect exchange, the replacement for all of those canceled policies, excludes 90 out of 130 hospitals in Kentucky from its network.

Then there is the cost. Premiums and deductibles are skyrocketing. When people are able to get the Web site to work, they are discovering that insurance is not affordable.

As a candidate for President, then-Senator Barack Obama promised to sign a health care law that would cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year, but a quietly released report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects that 11 million Americans will face higher premiums because of ObamaCare.

ObamaCare is an especially bad deal for our seniors. A recent report studying the impact of the law's cuts to Medicare Advantage plans concluded that premiums could increase for some Kentucky seniors up to $1,700 per year.

Every day, I hear stories from Kentucky families and small businesses about how they have been hurt by ObamaCare, about how the government is making life harder for them.

Consider Tony Calvert, a truck driver and member of the Teamsters union

who lives in my district. He stood up in my townhall meeting in Winchester, Kentucky, and told me he suffered from aggressive stage 4 mantle cell lymphoma and lost his current health insurance.

The least expensive replacement policy on the Kentucky Kynect exchange was $1,800 more per month. ObamaCare was supposed to fix the problem of preexisting conditions, but for Tony Calvert and for his family, ObamaCare in Kentucky is a personal and financial disaster.

Consider the Blue Grass Stockyards, a beef cattle auction business that employs over 60 full-time employees who have enjoyed the benefits of high-quality, employer-provided health insurance for many years.

In 2010, the company's cost per employee was about $250 each month, and it provided about a $1,500 deductible, good prescription coverage, and $3,000 out-of-pocket maximum.

By 2014, this company faced a 50 percent increase in cost because of ObamaCare and nowhere near the coverage quality that they had been able to provide to their employees in the past.

Moving all of their employees to Kentucky Kynect was no help. The very best scenario they have come up with is to purchase a policy at over a 9 percent increase in premiums, a $5,000 in-network deductible, and a $10,000 out-of-network deductible, and these are narrow networks.

The company told me that they have always taken pride in providing their valued employees with quality coverage, but because of ObamaCare, they can't do that any more.

Then there is Joe and Laura Westbrook. They have been owner-operators of Speedflo and Snapflo, a family printing company in Lexington, Kentucky, since 1976. Their family-owned business has grown to 32 employees--including many working moms--providing good benefits and affordable group health insurance until May 2014, when their renewal rates skyrocketed 101 percent.

To make matters worse, the available post-ObamaCare plans had deductibles that were three times larger than the pre-ObamaCare plans. These increases threatened to make it impossible for them to continue to provide their employees with health insurance, and for the first time, they had to ask their employees to contribute to cover the cost of the new plans.

The VA scandal is a window into the future of ObamaCare. It is a window into what government health care looks like: higher cost, higher premiums, less choices.

Let's get together as a country and acknowledge that this law doesn't work. It is unfortunate that ObamaCare doesn't work. The American people deserve health care reform that actually lowers costs, that provides more choices, and does not put bureaucrats in charge of health care.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Lighthouse Ministries for a decade of serving men, women and children in central and eastern Kentucky.

Lighthouse Ministries is a non-profit, faith-based organization dedicated to reaching the low- and moderate-income population of Lexington, and the Fayette County area, by providing free meals for people in need, and also by providing housing and support for men who are disadvantaged, whether due to recent imprisonment, drug-related issues, or poverty.

Lighthouse Ministries also provides educational and psychological support for people who are in need of drug, alcohol and vocational rehabilitation.

Since 2004, Lighthouse Ministries has served more than 330,000 meals--each accompanied by a Bible message, individual prayer if requested, and clothing and toiletries when needed.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in celebrating Lighthouse Ministries' decade of service. I would also like to extend my personal gratitude to this organization for all that they do to better our community and our Commonwealth.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark the 50th anniversary of the passage of S. Con. Res. 19, which officially recognized bourbon as a distinctive product of the United States of America.

Specifically, the resolution provided that bourbon whiskey is a distinctive product of the U.S. and is unlike other types of alcoholic beverages, whether foreign or domestic; that bourbon whiskey has achieved recognition and acceptance throughout the world as a distinctive product of the United States; and the resolution further prohibited the importation of whiskey designated as ``bourbon'' to protect bourbon as a product distilled and aged in the United States alone.

Many great nations have a national spirit. Bourbon certainly belongs in the same class. As the report that accompanied the resolution notes, the name ``bourbon'' refers to the particular part of the world this distinctive distilled spirit first arrived from, Bourbon County, Kentucky. The name is now universally accepted as meaning American whiskey, and over 90 percent of all bourbon is distilled in my home State, the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Today, Kentucky's bourbon industry is enjoying an explosive growth due to demand both here and abroad. I think this renaissance is the result not only of bourbon's timeless production process and depth of flavor, but is also thanks to its status as a uniquely American spirit.

This week we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Congress putting that concept into law, and we thank all of the hardworking men and women in my home State who make this uniquely American spirit such a great product.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the Financial Institutions Subcommittee for her leadership on this important legislation. I want to thank also my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who have joined us in a bipartisan way to advance this sensible legislative correction.

Madam Speaker, obviously, government bureaucrats don't always know best, and they certainly don't know our local communities better than we do. That is why I introduced H.R. 2672, the Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities Act, or HELP Rural Communities Act, which would help remedy a bizarre situation created by a flawed, one- size-fits-all government regulation that is making life harder for millions of Americans, including my constituents in central and eastern Kentucky.

My legislation, the HELP Rural Communities Act, is about making the Federal Government more responsive to the people who know their communities better than regulators in Washington, D.C. It is a simple, pragmatic, and bipartisan solution that says that if Federal bureaucrats are going to impose different rules based on the localized characteristics of an area, then they actually need to listen to the input of the people in the communities who know those characteristics of those communities.

A few weeks ago, I was visiting with constituents in a rural county in my district, Bath County, in a country general store. And when I was sitting there talking to my constituents, a horse-drawn buggy passed by. Now, this is far from an uncommon occurrence. This was just another reminder that Bath County, Kentucky, in my district, is very much a rural area.

Amazingly, however, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington does not recognize Bath County as rural. Instead, the bureaucrats at the CFPB improperly designated Bath County as nonrural. Now, there are plenty of similar examples throughout the country of the CFPB oddly and incorrectly designating undeniably rural areas as nonrural, which is why H.R. 2672, the HELP Rural Communities Act, enjoys broad, bipartisan support and passed out of the Financial Services Committee by a vote of 55-1.

You may be wondering why this rural versus nonrural distinction matters. Well, here is why: the CFPB imposes more stringent lending rules and restrictions on local financial institutions based in nonrural communities than it does on financial institutions in rural communities. So when the Bureau gets these rural designations wrong all throughout the country, the consequence is that it constrains the availability of credit, including for balloon loans, to rural customers of community banks and community credit unions.

But don't just take it from me. Charles Vice, who is the top banking regulator in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions and the chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, has emphasized the importance of preserving balloon loans in rural communities.

In his testimony before our committee, the Financial Services Committee, in the House in June, Commissioner Vice stated:

When used responsibly, balloon loans are a useful source of

credit for borrowers in all areas. Properly underwritten

balloon loans are tailored to the needs and circumstances of

the borrower, including situations where the borrower or

property is otherwise ineligible for standard mortgage

products.

So the need for this legislation has been made clear by the regulators themselves. But it has also been made clear to me by a community banker in Bath County, a community banker who has been part of his local institution for multiple generations. His father was the president of the community bank, his grandfather was the president of the community bank and, before that, his great-grandfather. This young man, Thomas Richards, testified before our committee in December.

He said:

Unnecessary restrictions on balloon loans will lead to some

qualified borrowers not receiving the credit that they

deserve, and from a small community's standpoint, these

restrictions would be devastating to the livelihood of that

area.

It was really interesting to hear Mr. Richards testify because he said that his small, little community bank in Bath County, Kentucky, had survived the great economic changes over the centuries. It had survived the Great Depression, it survived the stagflation of the late 1970s and the early 1980s, and it even survived the financial crisis in 2008. But he said that the greatest single threat facing his small, community bank in rural Bath County, Kentucky, was the avalanche of red tape coming out of Washington in 2013 and 2014.

If left unfixed, these rules will block customers in rural communities from obtaining responsibly underwritten balloon loans. These are loans which Kentucky bankers throughout my district commonly use to provide credit to local customers who may not fit perfectly into Washington-dictated lending straitjackets.

These loans are vital to all kinds of individuals in rural America, from businessowners on Main Street, who simply seek to preserve their business, to farmers preparing for the next planting season.

A balloon loan can be the lifeline that finally helps a young family purchase a home; or it can help an individual repair their car, so they can get to work each day. At its core, balloon loans are common throughout rural America because they offer consumers flexibility and help community banks and community credit unions mitigate interest rate risk.

As you can see, these loans are tailored to the credit needs of the customer, which is why they are so popular throughout Kentucky. The tradition of community backing in Kentucky has always been about relationship banking. It is about truly knowing your customer and having that development of trust, so that the banker knows whether or not the customer can repay that loan.

H.R. 2672 is necessary because it preserves the best traditions of rural community banking, which are now being jeopardized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's incorrect rural designations throughout the country.

Really quickly, what does the bill exactly do? This bill creates a petition process in which individuals within a State could petition the Bureau to have it reconsider an improper designation of nonrural status for an area that is plainly rural.

Instead of limiting applicants to only being able to challenge a designation based on county lines, H.R. 2672 would give the applicant the flexibility to define the specified and bounded area that they would like to see switched from nonrural to rural.

In other words, we don't want to lock people into using counties when they

don't have to. This is important because county sizes can vary significantly throughout the country, particularly in Western States, and I want to thank my colleague and friend on the other side of the aisle, Congressman Hinojosa, for his contribution to this feature of the legislation.

The legislation specifies a number of commonsense factors that CFPB must consider when evaluating an application. In addition to the local input of the applicant, these factors include population density; a written opinion provide by the State's bank supervisor; and criteria used by the Census, OMB, and the Department of Agriculture for properly classifying geographic areas as either rural or urban.

Upon receiving an application, the CFPB is to provide for a 90-day public comment period and then grant or deny such applications within an additional 90 days. The Bureau shall then publish in the Federal Register an explanation of the factors it relied on in making its ultimate determination.

Once again, I am pleased that this is a bipartisan bill. I want to thank especially Congressman Hinojosa for his input in helping to improve this legislation. I also want to thank all of the other cosponsors of the bill, which is endorsed by a broad coalition, including the Kentucky Bankers Association, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, the Kentucky Credit Union League, the Credit Union National Association, the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, the American Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the National Association of Realtors, and the chairman of the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions--again, the top banking regulator in Kentucky, Commissioner Charles Vice.

This is a commonsense and simple bill, and I appreciate the opportunity to present it here today. I urge my colleagues to support this simple reform piece of legislation, and I urge the support and immediate passage of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight an industry that is at the very center of the culture and economy of Kentucky's Sixth Congressional District, our signature equine industry.

Central Kentucky is rightfully designated as the ``Horse Capital of the World,'' but this is a little title that we happily share with our neighbors in the city of Louisville on the first Saturday of May. As we celebrate the highlight of the thoroughbred racing season, the annual running of the Kentucky Derby, the Run for the Roses, I want to also acknowledge the men and women who dedicate their lives to our signature horse industry and the significant economic and jobs impact of this equine industry in Kentucky and beyond.

When you think of the Kentucky Derby, the fastest 2 minutes in sports, you think of Aristides in the first running of the Derby in 1875; you think of Orb, who won the Derby last year in 2013; and all of the great thoroughbred horses that came in between, from Sir Barton in 1919, the first Triple Crown winner; Gallant Fox; Omaha; War Admiral, who was of course in that duel with Seabiscuit; Whirlaway; Count Fleet; then in modern times, Secretariat, the fastest running of the Kentucky Derby in 1973; Seattle Slew, a Triple Crown winner in 1977; and our last Triple Crown winner, Affirmed, in 1978.

Despite the growing popularity of the thoroughbred racing industry and the vast number of our constituents that enjoy equine recreation, many Americans remain unaware of the significant impacts of the horse industry on our modern economy. The horse industry has a significant presence in at least 45 States and across many facets of the economy.

According to a comprehensive study by the American Horse Council, the Nation's 9.2 million horses created $102 billion in annual economic activity. This economic engine supports 1.4 million full-time jobs. In our Commonwealth, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, it is estimated that 80,000 to 100,000 people owe their jobs to our signature horse industry.

While many outside the industry perceive thoroughbred racing perhaps as a sport only reserved for the rich and famous, we in Kentucky know differently. We know that that is simply not the case. Horse farms in my district range anywhere from small family operations with fewer than 20 acres and only a half dozen mares to world-renowned breeding operations that attract thousands of mares from across the globe. Further, these farms support a myriad of related industries, such as agriculture, manufacturing, retail, tourism, just to name a few. I will invite anybody watching on C-SPAN to come to central Kentucky and visit some of our world-famous horse farms. Clearly, this is an industry that brings people with an affinity and passion for horses together, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

Kentucky's horse industry is critical to our economy, which is why I have led of number of efforts in Congress to promote the equine industry. I serve as the chairman of the Congressional Horse Caucus. This caucus serves as a forum to provide Members of Congress the opportunity to learn about the impact of government policies that impact the equine industry and to collaborate with government leaders and industry stakeholders from across the country.

I have introduced two bills impacting the tax treatment of horses. The first bill, H.R. 998, titled the Equine Tax Parity Act, would eliminate the 44-year-old tax provision that discourages investments in the equine industry and discriminates against equine assets.

The second bill, H.R. 2212, the Race Horse Cost Recovery Act of 2013, would make permanent the 3-year depreciation schedule for horses, for race horses, which is critical to the health of Kentucky's horse racing industry as well as job growth and other horse-related industries.

I plan to continue my efforts to advance these critical bills and urge any colleagues in the House to contact my office if they wish to join the Congressional Horse Caucus or support these important legislative and job-creating initiatives.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, as we gather with friends and family this Saturday, the first Saturday in May, to watch the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby--again, the fastest 2 minutes in sports--let's not forget to honor all of the men and women who make this great sport possible. From the farm, to the sales, to the track and beyond, horses require the loving care of dedicated professionals at each step along the way. Without the efforts of the owners, the breeders, the trainers, the farriers, the grooms, the jockeys, the track operators, the employees, and all the people who support the horse industry, without their efforts, our great horse industry, our great pastime, simply would not be possible.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, my friend who has, himself, shown a considerable amount of leadership on this issue in making sure that American companies on Main Street and all across this country have access to reliable, affordable capital to grow their businesses and create jobs.

I also want to thank the gentleman from Florida for participating in the discussion here today in a bipartisan manner and for his support. And I also thank my colleagues both on this side and that side of the aisle for their support and for recognizing that we do need to fix this problem.

H.R. 4167, the Restoring Proven Financing for American Employers Act, is about jobs and economic growth. It is about reliable access to affordable credit to small, midcap, and emerging-growth companies, in fact, some of the most dynamic and job-producing companies in America.

As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce states in its letter of support, my legislation is necessary to ``fix the adverse impacts of the Volcker Rule upon thousands of Main Street businesses.''

This legislation, as has been mentioned earlier, passed out of the Financial Services Committee on a March 14 strongly bipartisan vote of 53-3. I want to thank Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York for her support and work in developing this commonsense legislation to provide a necessary clarification of the Volcker Rule while maintaining the original legislative intent regarding the treatment of collateralized loan obligations.

While there are several exemptions provided in the statute included in section 619 of the Dodd-Frank law, which authorizes the Volcker Rule, that legislative language states:

Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or

restrict the ability of a banking entity or nonbank financial

company supervised by the Federal Reserve Board to sell or

securitize loans in a manner otherwise permitted by law.

Nevertheless, despite this plain language in the statute, certain asset-backed securities originally thought to be exempt by the Volcker Rule are now subject to the covered fund definition.

So the pragmatic need to provide this defined, narrow fix is why the legislation is endorsed by the American Bankers Association, by the Kentucky Bankers Association, and by the small community banks around this country, the Independent Community Bankers of America. And it is why a small community bank in my home State of Kentucky contacted my office in January. He alerted us to the fact that failing to fix this problem could very well mean significant losses to that small community bank, possible layoffs of employees, and higher borrowing rates and fees for the customer in the local community.

So getting this issue right and fixing the problem is important to community banks. It is important to U.S. employers and businesses on Main Street. It is important to a whole lot of jobs that support families in Kentucky and around this country. And here is why: collateralized loan obligations, or CLOs, have proven to be a critical source of funding for U.S. businesses over the last 20 years.

Today, CLOs continue to provide over $300 billion in financing to U.S. companies, including companies that are well-known to all of us in this Chamber--Dunkin' Donuts, American Airlines, Burger King, Toys ``R'' Us, Neiman Marcus, Delta Air Lines, Goodyear Tire, and even a mattress and bedding company in my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, Tempur Sealy. Yet, this valuable form of corporate finance that supports jobs is under assault due to the regulators' implementation of the Volcker Rule, which makes it impermissible for banks to retain or invest in these assets.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, H.R. 4167 would ``preserve

this important source of financing that supports growth and job creation throughout our economy.'' CLOs have a proven track record of success, and they ``performed very well before, during and since the financial crisis.''

According to the Kentucky Bankers Association, investment in CLOs is a ``conservative addition to an existing and balanced investment approach'' and a ``thoughtful solution to the equity problem'' that banks face. In fact, the default rate on CLOs in the last 20 years has been less than one-half of 1 percent.

Yet, despite this proven track record and despite this critical source of funding for growing U.S. companies and job producers in America, the Volcker Rule regulators require that banks divest of their CLO holdings. The consequences will be a fire sale in the market that will cause significant losses to banks currently holding what are known as legacy CLOs.

Looking forward, it will increase the cost of borrowing in the future for U.S. businesses looking to expand, grow, and create much-needed jobs.

These warnings may sound abstract. So let me explain how this affects a real business that employs many of my constituents in Kentucky's Sixth Congressional District. Tempur-Pedic is a high-end mattress bedding company, and they produce, through space-age technology, very comfortable, high-end beds for the top of the market. But they knew that in order to be resilient and to be growing in the future, they needed to acquire a competitor that covered the rest of the marketplace--the value products, the midlevel products, and a lower but higher level form of mattress so that in the event of an economic downturn or competitive pressures in the marketplace, they would have a cross-section of the entire marketplace with all price points of bedding.

So Tempur-Pedic used CLO financing, where it didn't have access to affordable corporate bond financing, as affordable corporate bond financing. They accessed CLO financing and closed this transaction where they acquired a well-known company to a lot of Americans, Sealy, and that transaction closed in March of 2013. This allowed them to expand their business and create already in just a year's time 200 new jobs in my district.

Thanks to CLO financing, Tempur Sealy is now a more resilient company and better poised for growth in the future. And if Tempur Sealy sees an opportunity to grow even more and is in need of a commercial loan, we want to make sure that this source of affordable financing is there for them and for all U.S. companies.

H.R. 4167 is a defined, narrow fix which clarifies that the Volcker Rule should not be construed to require the divestiture of any debt securities of CLOs prior to July 21, 2017, if such CLOs were issued before January 21, 2014.

H.R. 4167 also clarifies that a bank shall not be considered to have an ownership interest in a CLO for purposes of enforcement of the Volcker Rule if such debt security has no indicia of ownership other than the right to participate in removal for cause or in the selection of a replacement investment manager or investment adviser of the CLO.

So, in sum, Mr. Speaker, this legislation is a bipartisan, commonsense fix to a real world problem voiced by community banks and emerging growth companies like Tempur Sealy in my own district that will benefit these companies all around the country. So I urge a vote in support of H.R. 4167, the Restoring Proven Financing for American Employers Act.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, and I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for his contribution to the debate. It gives us an opportunity to actually analyze what exactly we are talking about here.

We are not talking about the risky assets that were contributing factors to the financial crisis. If this were junk, as the gentleman from Massachusetts describes it to be, the default rate on CLOs would have been much higher over the last 20 years. But the default rate on CLOs over the last 20 years, including during the financial crisis, was less than half of 1 percent. Not one of the nearly 4,000 notes rated AAA or AA ever defaulted in CLOs.

Part of the reason for this strong, durable performance of CLOs is because CLOs are very different from the troubled assets that fueled the financial crisis. CLOs are distinct because, number one, they are based on diverse assets, commercial loans that are well diversified across the industry. These are solid, diversified loans, and they are typically secured loans.

Secondly, there is an alignment of interest between CLO investors and the CLO managers. The managers actually have skin in the game.

Finally, third, there are significantly greater transparency features to CLOs and disclosure since the commercial loans here, the secured commercial loans, are issued by companies that report financial information on a regular basis to investors, and they are required to provide regular financial reports with the SEC.

Now, with respect to the gentleman's claim that the CLO market is doing just great, there is a lot of misinformation about this. According to the Loan Syndication and Trading Association, U.S. banks hold an estimated $70 billion of CLO notes, which would have to be divested if we don't make the fix by July 21, 2015, and with the Fed's change a little bit later. But even the threat of such a divestiture roiled the CLO market in December and January before Congress took action.

So due primarily to uncertainty around the Volcker Rule in January 2014, U.S. CLO issuance dropped nearly 90 percent from the prior year, drying up access to credit. The only reason why the CLO market has recovered since January is because of this bill. It is because of the legislative action, the bipartisan efforts of this body.

Finally, I just would like to conclude by responding to the gentleman's assertion that a little limitation is good for the system-- a little limitation is good for the system. Well, hear what a witness at our hearing about this issue said about this little limitation:

If you have a situation where the Volcker Rule basically

impedes U.S. banks and some foreign banks from investing in

CLOs, you can see their appetite reduced by 80 percent. They

will just not participate in the CLO market.

Ultimately, that leads to our other point, in that we can see a significant cost to financing for U.S. companies. What happens when you see a significant cost to financing or decreased credit availability for companies? That means these companies that have over 5 million employees can't build new factories, they can't build new cellular networks, they can't expand, and they can't combine and merge to bigger, more resilient companies that can compete effectively on a global basis. It ultimately would have a very destructive effect on U.S. companies.

So, Mr. Speaker, in sum, I will just bring it back to my home district. If a little limitation is good for the system, tell that to the 200 Kentuckians who now have jobs because of this innovative source and a responsible source of commercial credit in America.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, and I would like to thank the gentleman from my home State, Mr. Rogers, for his advocacy of this important issue, and I appreciate Mr. Young yielding me some time to talk about this legislation that I am proud to cosponsor, which would study the feasibility of including the historic Mill Springs Battlefield within the National Park System.

Perhaps nowhere more than the Commonwealth of Kentucky does the maxim that the Civil War ``pit brother against brother'' ring truer. While it never seceded, a slaveholding Kentucky had rival Union and Confederate governments and was represented by the central star of the Stars and Bars. It is no exaggeration to say that Kentucky families and communities were often split along blue and gray lines.

A border State at the nexus of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, Kentucky was of vital strategic importance to both the Union and Confederate causes. As Chairman Rogers pointed out, President Abraham Lincoln noted, ``I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.'' The loss of the Commonwealth would have been a significant blow to the cause of keeping the Union intact.

Both sides recognized this, and so in the first 2 years of the war, some of the bloodiest fighting occurred in the Commonwealth. Major hostilities in the Bluegrass State were bookended by the Union victories at Mill Springs in January 1862, which largely ended the Confederacy's eastern Kentucky offensive, and the Battle of Perryville in October of that year, which ended the Confederacy's hope of victory in the Kentucky Campaign.

The Battle of Mill Springs is notable not only as the first major battle and Union victory in Kentucky, but also the first battle of the Western Theater in which a Confederate general--Brigadier General Felix Kirk Zollicoffer--would be killed in action.

Inclement weather the night before the battle had slowed the Confederate infiltration of the area costing them the benefit of a surprise attack. Despite early success by Confederate troops, a Union rally in the fog and gun smoke that clouded the dense woods sowed confusion and disarray among the rebels.

I thank the gentleman.

As the Confederate lines fell back, Brigadier General Zollicoffer was separated and mistakenly approached the 4th Kentucky Infantry and, believing them to be his own troops, was cut down.

The result of the battle of Mill Springs was a hasty retreat by Confederate forces across the Cumberland River back into Tennessee. In hindsight, it was the last opportunity for the Confederacy to gain a foothold in eastern Kentucky. For the Union Army, which had been humiliated at the Battle of First Manassas in the summer of 1861, the battle was its first major victory of the war and a needed boost to morale.

In 1991, the National Park System placed Mill Springs Battlefield on its list of the Most Endangered Battlefields. Today, thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Mill Springs Battlefield Association and several other public and private organizations, the battlefield has been largely restored and now offers walking and driving tours, as well as a 10,000-square-foot visitor center and museum.

H.R. 298 is an important step to recognize and build upon the good work of these organizations and passionate Civil War history enthusiasts from eastern Kentucky and throughout the country. While the feasibility study would only be a first step in the process, inclusion in the National Park System would help ensure that the story of Mill Springs and the battlefield itself are preserved and maintained for future generations and that the memories and sacrifices of the fallen are never forgotten.

Again, I commend Chairman Rogers on his efforts to preserve this piece of American and Kentucky history, and I am a proud cosponsor of

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 165 and ``aye'' on rollcall No. 166, supporting the passage of the Budget and Accounting Transparency Act.