Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the Festus Tigers Boys Cross Country team on winning the Class 3 Cross Country State Championship.

This team and their coach should be commended for all of their hard work throughout this past year and for bringing home the state championship to their school and community.

I ask you to join me in recognizing the Festus Tigers Boys Cross Country team for a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the Festus Tigers Girls Cross Country team on winning the Class 3 Cross Country State Championship.

This team and their coach should be commended for all of their hard work throughout this past year and for bringing home the state championship to their school and community.

I ask you to join me in recognizing the Festus Tigers Girls Cross Country team for a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the Helias Crusaders Volleyball team on winning the Class 3 Volleyball State Championship.

This team and their coach should be commended for all of their hard work throughout this past year and for bringing home the state championship to their school and community.

I ask you to join me in recognizing the Helias Crusaders Volleyball team for a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the New Haven Shamrocks Boys Cross Country team on winning the Class 1 Cross Country State Championship.

This team and their coach should be commended for all of their hard work throughout this past year and for bringing home the state championship to their school and community.

I ask you to join me in recognizing the New Haven Shamrocks Boys Cross Country team for a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling), our distinguished chairman of the committee.

I want to start by thanking the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Tenney), who has become a real advocate for small financial institutions and their customers. Escrow requirements are costly and burdensome for community banks and credit unions. Many institutions lack the resources to create and maintain escrow accounts in house, and outsourcing the work is, in many cases, cost prohibitive. But this doesn't mean that these financial institutions shouldn't be in the business of mortgage lending.

H.R. 3971 amends the Truth in Lending Act to direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to exempt from certain escrow requirements a loan secured by a first lien on a principal dwelling if the loan is held by a creditor with assets of $25 billion or less.

Under the bill, the Bureau must also provide either exemptions to or adjustments from the mortgage loan servicing and escrow requirements of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. That relief applies only to servicers of 30,000 or fewer mortgage loans. These aren't high thresholds, nor are the institutions that will benefit large or complex.

The gentlewoman's legislation is targeted squarely on the small banks and credit unions servicing Main Street; the financial institutions that have relationships with their customers.

This is an important aspect of the bill that isn't delineated in the legislative text. I can tell you, as someone who has made loans in my community for more than 30 years, that these small institutions care about their customers. Community bankers help people fulfill their dreams of homeownership because they care about the customer and economic health of their community.

The unfortunate reality is that, across the Nation, these banks and

credit unions are exiting the residential mortgage business. I heard from one just a few days ago. It isn't necessarily one rule that is driving this trend. It is the onslaught of rules from the CFPB and the Federal prudential regulators that, in totality, make mortgage lending and servicing cost prohibitive.

These rules aren't helping consumers. They are forcing banks to cut off services and access to mortgage credit. They are bushing borrowers to large financial institutions and nonbank servicers, the very entities that the ranking member and some of my friends on the other side of the aisle say pose the greatest threat to consumers.

The gentlewoman's legislation ensures that consumers continue to have various credit choices by allowing smaller institutions to remain in the mortgage market without being deterred by the high cost of regulatory compliance. The increase in the small servicer exemption threshold will better delineate small servicers from the large servicers and give credit unions and community banks greater flexibility. This flexibility will help to ensure that more of their customers have access to the mortgage market and achieve the dream of homeownership.

We shouldn't be driving that business away from small servicers, and we shouldn't subject community institutions, in this instance, to the same regulatory regime as larger ones.

This is an issue the Financial Services Committee has worked on for several years, always with bipartisan support. I want to thank the gentlewoman from New York for picking up this legislation and for diligently working on this matter. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting H.R. 3971 and other measures that allow our Nation's smaller financial institutions, their customers, and their communities to thrive.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2706) to provide requirements for the appropriate Federal banking agencies when requesting or ordering a depository institution to terminate a specific customer account, to provide for additional requirements related to subpoenas issued under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days 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, today the House will consider an amended version of H.R. 2706, the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act, legislation I introduced in an effort to provide greater transparency and accountability among banking regulators.

Over the past few years, members of the Financial Services Committee and others in the House have expressed bipartisan concern surrounding Operation Choke Point, the Department of Justice and FDIC-led initiative that sought to separate legal businesses from financial services they need to survive.

People may think Operation Choke Point is limited to payday lenders or the banks serving them, but it is not. This initiative has spread to many industries, including tobacco shops, pawn brokers, ATM operators, even amusement gaming companies, to name just a few. Even attorneys and third parties that serve these industries have been impacted.

The underlying problem here is significant. The Federal Government should not be able to intimidate financial institutions into dropping entire sectors of the economy as customers, based not on risk or evidence of wrongdoing, but purely on personal and political motivations.

This type of program sets an incredibly dangerous precedent that shouldn't be permitted under any Presidential administration. There needs to be a process in place to ensure that the banking regulators have the ability to pursue bad actors, but not to punitively target specific businesses or products that operate and are offered within the confines of the law.

This legislation offers a straightforward approach to a complicated problem. It simply dictates that Federal banking regulators cannot suggest, request, or order a financial institution to terminate a banking relationship unless the regulator has material reason beyond reputational risk. It also puts in place the requirement that agency management sign off on any account termination request or order.

The provisions contained in H.R. 2706 are so reasonable, in fact, that the FDIC has already used its authority to put them in place. Effective 2015, agency policy now requires supervisory staff to track and document account termination recommendations. Such recommendations must now be made in writing and not through informal suggestion. FDIC regional leadership must be made aware of any such recommendation, and the basis for such recommendation cannot rely solely on reputational risk.

The original bill would have also struck the word ``affecting'' in FIRREA and replaced it with ``by'' or ``against.'' I maintain that this modest change would have helped to ensure that broad interpretations of the law are limited and that the original intent of the statute, helping to penalize fraud against or by financial institutions, is restored.

Attorney General Sessions announced the end of Operation Choke Point earlier this year, and we have noticed a dramatic decline in FIRREA subpoenas resembling those seen during the height of the initiative. The issues with FIRREA still need to be addressed, and while H.R. 2706 is not the opportunity to do that, I will continue to press for reasonable reforms and clarifications of the law.

Within the banking agencies, these account termination requests are still a significant problem. Just last week, I had a meeting with an industry that has seen a rash of account terminations in Missouri, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California, Texas, and Wisconsin, to just name a few of the States that have been affected. We have to restore order, Mr. Speaker. Our goal should be to have more individuals and businesses in banks, not forced from them.

Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleagues that the House has passed by a voice vote two appropriations amendments prohibiting funding for Operation Choke Point. Members from both sides of the aisle have written letters and

talked to regulators about the dangers of such a program. This is a very real issue and one that must be addressed.

Again, I want to emphasize that it is essential that DOJ and financial regulators maintain the ability to pursue bad actors or anyone they think could be a bad actor. This amended version includes language offered by Ranking Member Waters to ensure that customer account termination notices don't interfere with ongoing criminal investigations. The checks and balances in this legislation would help to ensure accountability among the regulators and would in no way hinder the ability of any executive branch agency from going after individuals or businesses suspected of fraudulent activity.

This legislation offers a responsible approach to curbing the malpractice we have seen in Operation Choke Point. I want to thank the many colleagues who worked with me on this legislation, in particular, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Heck), Chairman Hensarling, and Ranking Member Waters for helping to get this considered on the suspension calendar today.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hollingsworth), who is a distinguished member of the Financial Services Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to reiterate that this bill is about greater transparency and accountability among the banking regulators.

The Federal Government should not be able to intimidate financial institutions into dropping entire sectors of the economy's customers based on personal and political motivations. It should be based on risk and evidence of wrongdoing.

Our new AG has stopped this practice, and the FDIC has incorporated many of the principles in this bill already into their standard operating procedures. But the importance of this bill is to codify in law for the regulators the guardrails that are necessary to keep this from happening to protect our citizens from this and many other activities by an overreach of the bureaucracy.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3093) to amend the Volcker Rule to permit certain investment advisers to share a similar name with a private equity fund, subject to certain restrictions, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to 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. 3093, the Investor Clarity and Bank Parity Act. I would like to start by thanking my colleague from Massachusetts (Mr. Capuano) for his work on this important bipartisan legislation.

This bill makes a modest amendment to section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act, also known as the Volcker rule, by correcting an unintended consequence that occurred during implementation.

When the regulators issued the final rule to the Volcker rule, they imposed severe limitations on the ability of bank holding companies and their affiliates, including investment advisers, to sponsor hedge funds and private equity funds, also known as covered funds. As a result, a covered fund cannot use the name of a sponsor.

For example, if XYZ investment adviser is an affiliate of XYZ bank and sponsors a real estate fund, that real estate fund could not be named XYZ real estate fund. Not only is such a restriction at odds with industry practice, it reduces transparency and confuses investors about who is actually managing a covered fund.

H.R. 3093 eliminates this prohibition and simply allows an affiliate of a bank holding company, such as an investment adviser, to share a similar name with a private equity fund. In doing so, this legislation clarifies the original intent of the Volcker rule and, most importantly, helps investors have better insight into who is actually managing a covered fund.

Finally, H.R. 3093 is consistent with recommendations provided by the Treasury Department in its recent report on banks and credit unions.

I want to again thank my friend from Massachusetts for his work on this bill. The Volcker rule is in need of additional reforms. I appreciate that Mr. Capuano has started on the naming issue and that our colleagues on the Senate Banking Committee have included modest Volcker reforms in Chairman Crapo's regulatory relief legislation.

It is my hope, however, that this is the beginning of the conversation and that we can work again in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion to pass additional Volcker reforms, such as the designation of a single regulator to work with other regulators. In the meantime, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation today.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr) for his continued commitment to issues surrounding the availability of affordable manufactured housing. He has been a patient champion on this and many other issues that impact Americans seeking access to mortgage financing.

The legislation we consider today amends the Truth in Lending Act to specify that a retailer of manufactured housing is not a ``mortgage originator'' subject to requirements under that act. Similarly, the bill specifies that such a retailer is generally not a ``loan originator.''

So what do we mean with regard to these technical concerns? They mean that more people in Missouri and Kentucky and every other State will have access to manufactured housing.

Certain regulations stemming from Dodd-Frank constricted credit for manufactured homes. This legislation would help consumers by restoring access to financing that is currently blocked.

If you want more access to credit, if you want more competition, you need to support this. What has happened is that the rules and regulations have constricted the ability of banks and credit unions to be able to make these kinds of loans.

Housing options in rural America aren't necessarily the same as those offered in other parts of the Nation. Our rural communities can face a severely limited affordable housing stock, making the availability of and financing for manufactured housing all the more important.

That may not be significant to every Member of this body, but it is certainly important to me and my constituents. Roughly 10 percent of them live in manufactured housing. It is important to the more than 20 million Americans living in manufactured housing today and the many Americans who will turn to manufactured housing to fulfill their housing needs.

As someone whose first home was actually a manufactured home, I can tell you that this is extremely important to lots and lots of people in communities in my district.

Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have suggested this legislation will dilute consumer protections. In reality, this bill maintains consumer protections. H.R. 1699 allows, for example, continued CFPB oversight of manufactured housing loans, requires that consumers be provided with the full litany of disclosure requirements, and maintains the ``ability to repay'' requirements established in Dodd-Frank. The idea that this legislation guts consumer protections, Mr. Speaker, is simply not true.

There has also been the charge that this legislation would help retailers that originate mortgages. To be clear, H.R. 1699 does not exempt parties that are actual mortgage originators. If a retailer is compensated for acting as a mortgage originator, the legal requirements that apply to other mortgage originators will still apply to them after passage of this bill.

Manufactured housing provides not just a housing alternative, but an opportunity for individuals and families to become homeowners. This legislation ensures manufactured housing remains available and affordable, without eroding important consumer protections.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important measure.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the upcoming retirement of Mrs. Cynthia Morris-Sapp from her over 24 years of dedicated service to the Missouri Division of Tourism.

Mrs. Morris-Sapp grew up in the Warrensburg, Missouri area where she graduated from Warrensburg High School and Central Missouri State University with a Bachelor's degree in Recreation. During her college years, Mrs. Morris-Sapp worked as an intern for Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Waverly, Tennessee and continued to work there after graduation.

In 1986, Mrs. Morris-Sapp moved back to Missouri where she began working at United MO Bank until 1990, when she began her work in public service at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as a Missouri State Capitol Tour Guide. Her knowledge of and appreciation for the beauty of the Missouri State Capitol made her a perfect fit for the Missouri Department of Tourism where in 1996 she became the Group Tour Market Manager. Throughout the next years, Mrs. Morris-Sapp took over supervision and management of the Visitors Centers on the Interstate Highways and oversight of the affiliate Visitor Centers in the State of Missouri. She has played a vital role in the way tourists and even residents of Missouri experience our great state including the many state parks, historical sights, fantastic streams and rivers, museums, wineries, delicious restaurants, zoos, farmers markets, and sports teams, just to name a few.

I had the privilege of working with Mrs. Morris-Sapp during my tenure as Missouri Director of Tourism. Her commitment to the Show-Me State was inspiring to me and encourages those around her. During our time working together, Mrs. Morris-Sapp exhibited exemplary character and energy to the Division of Tourism. Our state, the people who live here, and the many past and future tourists who visit us are better off because of her great service.

Mr. Speaker, I ask you to join me in thanking this distinguished public servant, Mrs. Cynthia Morris-Sapp and congratulating her on a well-deserved retirement. She can now enjoy more time with her loving husband, Michael, with whom she recently celebrated her 24th Wedding Anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the 21st Century Flood Reform Act.

Chairman Hensarling and Chairman Duffy have crafted a great substitute amendment that will bring about meaningful reform of NFIP and protect taxpayers and policyholders alike.

The amendment includes H.R. 2246, my Taxpayer Exposure Mitigation Act of 2017. Included in that bill is a requirement that the FEMA Administrator purchase reinsurance or a capital market alternative in an effort to guard taxpayers against losses.

I know of no major insurance company in the private sector that does not purchase coverage to protect itself against loss of this kind. These products function well. There is no reason that FEMA should not be following this best practice as well.

The amendment also grants States and local governments and our constituents the ability to play a more proactive role in the FEMA floodplain mapping process.

I represent the Lake of the Ozarks with its 27,000 pieces of property along its shoreline, which has dealt with tremendous mapping issues over the past several years. Hundreds of letters of map amendments were granted to my constituents, and there were multiple attempts by the community to engage with FEMA to fix their mapping process, but my constituents never felt their concerns were taken seriously.

The Lake of the Ozarks is not unique. FEMA processes 25,000 LOMA letters each year at a cost of $13 million. This should tell all of us something about the mapping process. Under this bill, areas like the Lake of the Ozarks would be able to improve the accuracy of the maps themselves, no longer beholden to Washington, D.C.

This amendment would also create an opt-out from the mandatory coverage required for commercial properties, allowing banks and businesses more flexibility to secure flood insurance coverage that meets an entity's unique risks and needs.

It is important to note that this legislation does not preclude any business from securing NFIP policy. Policies will remain available to all businesses.

Also, this provision should not be misconstrued as a caveat to avoid the purchase of flood insurance. Businesses operating in flood plains should have flood insurance, and I am confident that lenders will insist upon reasonable coverage. I believe this should be a business decision between the lender and the business customer.

Lastly, this amendment would require FEMA to use actual replacement cost in determining premium rates for NFIP policies--language originally included in my H.R. 2565.

Pricing for private policies frequently takes into account the actual replacement cost of a structure. It makes sense. Any insurance policy should factor in the amount of money that would be needed to replace a structure.

FEMA doesn't adhere to this fundamental of insurance. Rather, the agency effectively uses a fixed national average for insured value and replacement costs when determining customer premiums.

The result of FEMA's current practice is that lower-income policyholders subsidize wealthier homeowners.

The substitute amendment we consider today gives FEMA the flexibility it needs to stop this practice and move toward a replacement cost pricing structure.

I also want to thank my colleague from Wisconsin for including this provision in his substitute amendment. I am confident this package will allow the private sector to flourish and take risk off the backs of taxpayers while protecting NFIP policyholders.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the measure.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Hensarling for his leadership on this issue. I also want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer) for taking a lead on this important legislation.

As an elected official, I have the opportunity to interact with individuals across my district who strive to create new or expand existing small businesses. These are folks who work hard to provide for their families and serve as the backbones of their communities.

Unfortunately, for many entrepreneurs, overregulation has stifled their ability to innovate and grow. The National Federation of Independent Business published a recent study showing that 30 percent of small business respondents cited taxes, regulations, and red tape as their most significant business problem.

While certain sectors are reaping the benefits of a strong economy, the reality is that startups and small businesses are sitting on the sidelines with limited access to credit. It is something I hear about from businessmen and -women every single day, be they bankers, retailers, farmers, doctors, and every profession in between.

We also know that many startups and businesses have historically turned to local financial institutions for initial financing. In the years after passage of Dodd-Frank, small bank lending is down dramatically, leaving many commercial customers scrambling to find other forms of reasonably priced financing.

Across the board, we are enabling a burdensome system that penalizes entrepreneurship. We need to reverse course if we want to see a resurgence of small business creation and growth.

H.R. 2201 is commonsense legislation that seeks to reverse one impediment to entrepreneurship. Mr. Emmer's bill offers a thoughtful approach to a problem that has hindered and, in some cases, prevented small offerings across the Nation. It will appropriately scale Federal rules and regulatory compliance and will allow small businesses to access the capital necessary for growth.

More specifically, this legislation will exempt certain nonpublic micro offerings from the SEC requirements. The bill features guardrails that allow for investor protection and subjects any and all exempted micro offerings to the full suite of Federal and State antifraud laws.

The result will be a less burdensome regulation that stifles innovation and increases access to capital for startups and small businesses that comply with the parameters included in the bill. This bill is about Main Street, about the small-business men and women in each of our districts.

Mr. Speaker, I want to again thank and applaud the gentleman from Minnesota for his hard work on this legislation, and I ask my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Assistant Chief Michael Schrage on his 50 years of service as a volunteer firefighter with the Crystal City Fire Department in Crystal City, Missouri. A celebration will be held on November 13, 2017 to honor Assistant Chief Schrage and commemorate his more than 50 years of service starting in 1967.

Born to Robert and Wanda Schrage on September 7, 1953, Mr. Schrage was one of five children. On August 11, 1976, Mr. Schrage married his beloved wife of 39 years, Janet Sue. Janet and Michael had one daughter, Brandi, and have also welcomed into the family Brandi's husband, Daniel and their granddaughter, Audri. In 1975, Mr. Schrage joined the Joachim Plattin Ambulance District. During that same year, he began working with his father, Mr. Robert (Bob) Schrage, at the family business, Schrage Electric. Mr. Schrage earned his certificate in Fire Science Technology from Jefferson College on May 23, 1978. In 1990 when his father retired, Mr. Schrage took over the family business and is still operating it today. Throughout his life, Mr. Schrage has served the Festus, Jefferson R-7, and Crystal City Fire Departments. Since 2009, Mr. Schrage has served as the commissioner for the Festus Special Road District. Additionally, he serves his community as a member of the Twin city Area Chamber of Commerce and Elks Lodge 1721. He also attends Good News Community Church.

Throughout Mr. Schrage's service, he has held the position of Fire Fighter, Captain, and Assistant Chief. Mr. Schrage is currently the Assistant Chief at the Crystal City Fire Department. In 2013, he was given the award of Fire Chief of the Year in Jefferson County. In 2016, he was the Grand Marshall at the Jefferson County Fire Engine Rally and the Crystal City Homecoming.

Mr. Speaker, I ask you to join me in recognizing Assistant Chief Michael Schrage on 50 dedicated years of service to his community. The commitment he has shown to the Crystal City Fire Department has been greatly appreciated.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 452, legislation to designate the United States Postal Service facility located at 324 West Saint Louis Street in Pacific, Missouri, as the Specialist Jeffrey L. White, Jr. Post Office.

U.S. Army Specialist White grew up in Catawissa, Missouri, with his parents, Jeff and Paula White, and his brothers, Michael and Kyle. He graduated from Pacific High School in 2008, and enlisted in the Army in October of 2009.

Specialist White served our country honorably as a member of the First Battalion, 501st Airborne, Fourth Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, unit.

Specialist White deployed for Afghanistan in December 2011, and after serving our country bravely, he gave his life for our country when an IED detonated near his unit on April 3, 2012, roughly one week before he was scheduled to return to the United States.

Specialist White was a highly decorated servicemember. His awards and medals include the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Bronze Service Star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army

Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, and the NATO Medal, among many others.

As an avid sports fan, White shared my love of the St. Louis Cardinals. He witnessed their 2011 World Series Championship win shortly before his deployment and was planning to attend opening day in 2012. Specialist White was honored by the Cardinals, who invited his family to raise the 2011 World Championship flag on opening day in his memory.

Specialist White was an upstanding citizen and beloved by his family, friends, and community. Hundreds of individuals lined the streets in the pouring rain to honor his final journey home and memorial service.

We can never fully express our thanks to our military and their families. Their service and sacrifice for this country goes beyond a level of bravery most people have never seen. While the naming of this post office is not nearly enough to honor Jeffery White, nor will it heal the pain felt each day and every day by the family he left he behind, it is my sincere hope each time the Whites and folks in the Pacific community pass by this building they are reminded of how grateful and how proud we are to call Specialist White one of our own.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Missouri delegation and Pacific community for their support of this designation, and I ask every Member of the House to join us in honoring our hometown hero, Jeffery L. White, Jr.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Missouri Association of Student Financial Aid Personnel (MASFAP) on their 50th Anniversary on November 7, 2017. The Missouri Association of Student Financial Aid was founded on April 3, 1967, starting with a steering committee of only five members. Today, MASFAP has grown to 83 schools and over 790 members. This anniversary will provide an opportunity to recognize their continued partnerships and highlight the need for affordable post-secondary education.

Since its founding, the MASFAP has and continues to be a dynamic association dedicated to serving and advocating for practitioners, users, and providers of student financial aid programs. Many students depend on financial aid programs to assist them through their post- secondary education, providing many students with the means to continue their education. Missouri is home to many institutions of post- secondary education that serve students from Missouri and abroad. Obtaining a higher education opens doors for students, develops their individual skills and knowledge, and makes them invaluable resources to our communities, state, and nation.

MASFAP is ready and willing to assist students who need help or information. The financial aid programs provided to students assist with tuition, fees, housing, food, books and supplies, transportation and personal expenses. Additionally, millions of dollars in grants, scholarships, and student loans allow students to continue pursuing their professional goals.

Every day, student financial aid administrators throughout Missouri do their best to assist students in identifying the resources and options they have regarding the cost of their education. These administrators work at removing barriers so students can be successful in choosing the appropriate assistance program. The dedication these administrators show to the students and their future is appreciated.

I ask you to join me in recognizing the Missouri Association of Student Financial Aid Personnel on their 50th Anniversary Celebration

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the retirement of Major General Gregory S. Champagne who will retire from the United States Air Force and the Missouri Air National Guard on November 1, 2017 with 36 years of dedicated service. Since his commissioning, Major General Champagne has spent his career as a Missouri Air National Guardsman and currently serves as the Air National Guard Advisor to the Commander, Air Force Global Strike Command at the Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana where training, equipping, and maintenance for all United States intercontinental ballistic missile and bomber forces are conducted. The Air Force Global Strike Command provides strategic deterrence, global strike, and combat support and houses the nation's inventory of Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, B-1, B- 2, and B-52 bomber aircraft under its nine wings.

In 1981, Major General Champagne received his commission through the Academy of Military Science. He has served on numerous assignments such as wing staff assignments, logistics and flying operations and has flown in combat missions in Operations Provide Comfort and Southern Watch. Furthermore, he commanded the 207th Air Expeditionary Group at Tallil Air Base, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Prior to his current post, Major General Champagne was Commander, 131st Bomb Wing, Missouri Air National Guard, and Whiteman Air Force Base. At Whiteman, he oversaw the National Guard's only B-2 unit that provides nearly 1,100 combat-ready Airmen for both state and federal missions.

Throughout his many years of service, Major General Champagne has received numerous awards and decorations including: Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with oak leaf cluster, Combat Readiness Medal with two silver oak leaf clusters and two bronze oak leaf clusters, National Defense Service Medal with bronze star, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with bronze star, and Iraq Campaign Medal with bronze star.

Major General Champagne intends to spend precious moments with his wife, Cheri Champagne and his sons, 1st Lieutenant Clayton Champagne and wife, Cara, and Captain Tyler Champagne and wife, Kris and his grandson Nicolas.

I ask you to join me in recognizing this distinguished public servant, Major General Gregory S. Champagne on his retirement after 36 years of dedicated service to our nation. This retirement is well deserved.