Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for bringing S.J. Res. 57 to the floor today, a joint resolution to disapprove the 2013 Bureau guidance on auto finance. It has been well discussed today, why that is.

This is a very tailored, commonsense approach. It does not open up a precedent towards guidance being used for a CRA. It is a very narrow joint resolution. It is designed particularly with the GAO's ruling from last December, so I don't think that hyperbole is necessary.

We are here today to make sure that all of our constituents have access to affordable auto credit. Black, White, female, male, they need affordable auto credit. How do we get a job if we don't have an affordable car with which to go to work? So that is why we are here.

Secondly, we are here because our constituents demand that we demand accountability in our oversight function, we demand transparency. When you have a process that was not transparent and did not follow the Administrative Procedures Act and did not follow the statute, we don't have accountability and we don't have transparency. Our constituents argue for that.

Many argue laws should be based on sound data; our rules should be carefully debated in public. That was not done in this instance. So we have this surreptitious, specious display of sophistry known as the indirect auto guidance from the Bureau.

So we are correcting that today, and the beneficiaries will be our constituents. The beneficiaries will be Article I power in this House as we oversee the executive.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for bringing this bill to the floor, and I thank Mr. Zeldin for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize the Marine Corps Junior ROTC program at Little Rock Catholic High School for raising $20,500 toward the construction of a Gold Star families monument on the State capital grounds in Little Rock.

The Catholic High School Marine Corps Junior ROTC unit is celebrating its golden anniversary this year. The cadets were diligent in their fundraising: accepting donations at football games, selling food items, engaging the alumni association, and going door to door.

I would also like to recognize Sergeant Major R.S. Jernigan and Colonel Charles Johnson, who have stewarded these young men in their dedication to service in their community, State, and country. As a proud alumnus of Catholic High School in Little Rock and a former company commander of this outstanding JROTC unit, I am proud of the hard work of these young men and how they have exhibited leadership in the pursuit of their goal. They exemplify what we mean when we say: Hard work pays off.

Congratulations on this outstanding salute to our beloved Gold Star families and their future monument, and congratulations for 50 years of leadership and character development at Catholic High. Semper fi.

Recognizing the Children's Advocacy Alliance

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Children's Advocacy Alliance in Conway, Arkansas, and the local first responders for their dedication to serving and protecting the children of central Arkansas. Children's Advocacy Alliance was founded in 2000 as court- appointed special advocates for the 20th Judicial District of Arkansas. Currently it serves Faulkner, Conway, and Van Buren Counties in my district.

Earlier this month, local law enforcement and other first responders came out to support the annual Heroes for Hope race held by Children's Advocacy Alliance in Conway. In its seventh year, the race incorporates a central theme of being a superhero for each child in need. Every child needs a hero, but the abused child needs a superhero.

This year, 160 participants ran in support of the race. Thank you to all the dedicated workers at the Children's Advocacy Alliance and to the dedicated law enforcement people for being those superheroes for kids in need.

Welcoming Head Coach Darrell Walker to UA Little Rock

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's new men's basketball coach, Darrell Walker. A former Razorback, Mr. Walker was drafted by the New York Knicks in 1983 and played professional basketball for 10 years before assuming an assistant coaching role for the Toronto Raptors. Over the past two decades, Mr. Walker has demonstrated a high level of competency and competitiveness at coaching, having been a part of four different NBA coaching staffs and serving as the head coach for the Toronto Raptors from 1996 to 1998.

More recently, he was head coach for two seasons at Clark Atlanta University, amassing a 45-18 overall record. His passion for excellence, leadership, and hard work are evidenced by the accolades and career accomplishments. I look forward to following his success at home at UA Little Rock during his time as head coach of such a dynamic basketball community. This will be a great partnership.

Welcome home, Coach Walker.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Schiff, for his remarks on genocide and turning our back on the facts that we find around the world. I really appreciate his thoughts.

I want to rise today and talk to my colleagues and the American people about the atrocities in Syria and call on my colleagues in the Senate to expeditiously vote on a bill authored here in the House by the ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, H.R. 1677, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2017.

This legislation imposes new sanctions on human rights abusers in the sad state of affairs in Syria and those who facilitate the Assad regime's atrocities, and it encourages negotiations to bring about a lasting political solution there. It also authorizes the State Department to support entities that are collecting and preserving the chain of evidence for the eventual prosecution of those who have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria since March of 2011.

The world has witnessed many generational examples of butchery and genocide by menaces, including Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and many others. But in the last 7 years, the world has allowed us to recognize a new name for evil and cruelty in this millennium: Bashar al-Assad and his henchmen.

For the last 7 years, the world has expressed outrage, yet twiddled their thumbs while this modern-day Hitler annihilates the civilian population of Syria.

Systematically, leader Assad has savagely directed the bombing, bludgeoning, gassing, electrocution, and torture of his people.

Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons in the 1980s against Iran appears tame in comparison to the calculated bombing of weaponized chlorine and sarin dropped into children's hospitals, medical facilities, and villages across Syria.

I am grateful that, after a little thumb twiddling from the prior administration, the Trump administration has galvanized our allies against this genocide and has taken action to stop the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people.

I call on the Senate to act with expedition and pass the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, and finally help obtain the kind of documentation that we need, Mr. Speaker, to end this step back into darkness and convict Assad and his co-conspirators and his enablers of war crimes.

Vilonia Students Returning Lost Items After Tornado

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a group of students in Vilonia, Arkansas, who are collecting personal items lost after the devastating tornado that hit their town 4 years ago.

Erin Rappold, the teacher who created this project, was inspired after finding a baby picture in the debris.

Over the last 4 years, the students have collected 90,000 items, and only have about 2,000 left to be claimed. They launched their own website to help people reunite with their photos, their birth certificates, and their education diplomas.

A memorial dedication planned by those students will be held Friday, at 10 a.m., to remember the victims of the 2011 and 2014 tornadoes.

In the face of tragedy, these students have furnished us with an inspirational model for solidarity and hope.

I applaud Ms. Rappold and these courageous students for their efforts and dedication to the Vilonia community.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, and I appreciate the chairman's leadership in bringing this bill to the floor today.

I think the American people should be very pleased that this bill is coming to the floor in the form that it is, because we are doing two things here, Mr. Speaker, that I hear about from constituents all the time in terms of the way Congress should work.

First, the Dodd-Frank Act was passed 8 years ago this July and has been scrutinized by Congresses since that time on how it can be improved. What are the implications of it? What are the unintended consequences of it?

No section of this bill was talked about more than section 619, the Volcker rule. So we are evaluating it, and we are bringing today a bipartisan solution to something that regulators say is a problem, bankers say is a problem, and our consumers and businesses have had the unintended consequences of being hurt by, because it has not allowed our capital markets to function efficiently.

So, first, Dodd-Frank is subject to review after it was passed. That is something our constituents want. We know no law is perfect when it is passed. It is not a piece of the true cross discovered by St. Helena in Jerusalem. It is not part of the Rosetta Stone. It is subject to the scrutiny of the people--our people--the American people.

Secondly, people tell me all the time: Why can't you be more bipartisan?

So, Mr. Speaker, this is people's exhibit A of bipartisanship.

The Financial CHOICE Act that this House passed last year repealed the Volcker rule. We believe it harms the capital market system of this country. We believe it was an overreaction to the financial crisis.

We had members of the Obama administration who said that proprietary trading didn't even contribute to the financial crisis. But set that issue aside. We proposed repeal. Over in the United States Senate, they passed the bill with two-thirds of the Senate, Mr. Speaker, to say that the Volcker rule is not perfect.

Section 619 is not right, and they exempt community banks under $10 billion that don't have trading activity. They exempt them completely in the U.S. Senate bill passed with two-thirds of the Senate. I think all Americans know that two-thirds of the Senate agreeing on something is shocking. They can't even agree that there are 24 hours in a day.

So this bill represents an improvement. This bill represents bipartisanship. With my friend, Dr. Foster, we have worked from the yin of full repeal to the Senate-exempt community banks. We have identical language to exempt community banks in this bill, Mr. Speaker. That is why we got a 50-0 vote in our committee. It is common sense.

But we add one feature that we think improves that Senate language, and that is the heart of what is changed in this bill and the heart of what Dr. Foster worked on, which is, how do we harmonize the interpretation of this 1,000-page complex rule that our Federal Reserve bank presidents don't understand and our current chairman said that trading desks had to have a Ouija board to figure out how to do a trade? So we want a standard, harmonized interpretation of this rule, and that is what Dr. Foster and I propose today.

They have tried other ways. We have an Interagency Working Group. They sit around, drink coffee, and figure out ways to harmonize stuff. But they have failed. There were hundreds of questions submitted: How do we interpret this rule? They could come up with 21 answers, Mr. Speaker, out of hundreds submitted.

So for that reason, Dr. Foster and I suggest that the Federal Reserve system be first among equals in interpreting this complex rule. Why? Because they oversee all of the bank holding companies in the country, the most complex institutions in the country. In my view, that is what we need to do.

We are bipartisan. We have compromised. We have brought both sides together. We have improved the bill. Like our chairman, I wish it were repealed, but that is not possible right now. So we take a step forward to make it a better rule that provides more certainty for market makers.

If market makers have more certainty, Mr. Speaker, broker-dealers under $10 billion or over $10 billion will have a more clear compliance regime. Our towns and municipalities that require in their municipal bonds having market makers and trading will get better prices, which means our water and sewer systems are going to cost less when it comes to the net interest cost. That is what we are trying to do, is improve our capital markets and let our companies have more market makers.

So, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I thank Dr. Foster for his support, and I thank the chairman for bringing it to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today during Holocaust Days of Remembrance to recognize a constituent from my district and a Holocaust survivor, Mr. Fred Hilsenrath, of Fairfield Bay, Arkansas.

I was introduced to Fred by the outstanding mayor of Fairfield Bay, Paul Wellenberger. My staff and I had the opportunity to host Fred and his wife, Eleanor, for dinner and listen to their incredible story.

Fred was only 4 years old when Adolph Hitler took over as chancellor of Germany and the Nazi regime initiated his systematic extermination of the Jewish people of Central Europe. In 1940, after Poland had been raided, the Hilsenrath family found themselves stuck between Nazi Germany and Russia. Soon they were assembled in the town square, along with other Jewish families, to be shipped to concentration camps in Romania. After spending years in the camps throughout Romania, facing death and witnessing some of the most heinous and grotesque atrocities the world has seen, the Hilsenrath family was finally rescued by a Jewish Russian soldier.

Fred and his family then walked from Romania to France to reunite with their long-separated father. While in France, Mr. Hilsenrath finished high school.

In April of 1949, Fred moved to the United States. He had $40 to his name and knew no English. He studied electrical engineering at the City College of New York and obtained long careers with well-known companies such as Lockheed Martin, IBM, and Ampex.

After meeting his wife, Fred moved from San Francisco to Fairfield Bay, Arkansas. Here he retired to enjoy the slower pace of life in the Ozarks in The Natural State.

As a man currently in his late eighties, Mr. Hilsenrath has turned his horribly painful childhood memories of the trials he faced and that so many other Jews faced and experienced during the Holocaust into an educational moment.

In a letter he wrote to me, Fred mentioned a lesson that he wants to give to our Arkansas students. He says:

Not only can we use education as a way to rationally think

of our Nation's involvement in the future of our country as

well as the world, but also to recognize the seed in their

own heart; each of the students has a dream, they must find

it now, not later, so that they can focus their lives on

their future.

Mr. Hilsenrath understands the deep need for education and how it plays a part in our moments of history.

It is an honor for me and my staff not only to have met such an inspirational person, but to also represent him in the people's House.

Congratulating DuShun Scarbrough on Martin Luther King Remembrance Day

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate my friend DuShun Scarbrough, director of the Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission, for being awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major Innovation Service Award.

The MLK, Jr. Drum Major Innovation Service award, given to only 20 individuals nationwide, is awarded to volunteers who perform extraordinary everyday acts of service.

DuShun's leadership at the commission has proved to be invaluable toward its mission to promote understanding and acceptance of nonviolence, human equality, and community building among all Arkansans.

Last week, my office was honored to welcome members of the commission, including Arkansas treasure and civil rights icon, Annie Abrams, along with former Wrightsville, Arkansas, Mayor Pat Ward while we commemorated and

mourned the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination. However, we continue to honor Dr. King's vision for our great Nation.

DuShun and the commission continue to remind us of how far we have come and how we need to continue to uphold the legacy of the civil rights movement and embrace Dr. King's teaching of compassion, nonviolence, and democracy.

I would like to extend my congratulations to Mr. Scarbrough and the Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission for representing Arkansas on the national stage and for his receiving this important recognition.

He, along with Reverend Jesse Turner, a site coordinator for the National Alliance of Faith and Justice in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who also received this award, have represented our State with honor and dignity.

I encourage our citizens in Arkansas and across the country to remember the inspiring words of Dr. King and spend time in service to their neighbors and all of our communities.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Speaker and I thank the chairman of the Judiciary Committee for bringing this measure to the floor today.

I stand in support of H.J. Res. 2, a straightforward, long overdue effort to have a new tool to balance the budget, something my constituents in Arkansas have long talked about.

When Arkansans sent me to Washington, they demanded leadership and accountability and for me to be part of the solution to Washington's top-down one-size-fits-all approach to spending. With just over $8 trillion, Mr. Speaker, added in debt over the past 8 years, my constituents continue to argue that same point they did when I was elected 3 years ago, that the government is too big, it tries to do too much, and there has been no serious effort, bipartisan or otherwise, to rein that spending in.

Today's vote is something that--like my friend from Maine--is a measure I cosponsored upon arriving at the House. It is a significant step to getting our fiscal House in order and delivering the kind of accountability and transparency that my constituents demand of their Federal Government.

Why? Why now? Why today? And I approach this, Mr. Speaker, without the cynicism of the other side or the condemnation of this effort, because when our debt was only $5 trillion in 1995, the Senate and the House had a balanced budget amendment before them, and it failed to pass by a single vote in the Senate. So it was a bipartisan effort to get spending under control using a balanced budget amendment, and that maybe led, Mr. Speaker, to the constructive comments that some have argued today about reining in spending on a bipartisan basis, as was the case in the 1990s, combined with economic growth.

Now, with our tax cuts, we have economic growth--economic growth we haven't seen since 2005, according to the CBO, but the national debt is now, because of that $8 trillion increase, at $21 trillion, 76 percent of GDP.

I am convinced this amendment is now the tool necessary, because we have tried budget caps, sequester, rescissions, Gramm-Rudman caps, and we are now left with a tactic, a strategy

that all of our States, all but one of our States used, which is some form of a balanced budget amendment, which is why I come here, Mr. Speaker, to support this effort.

It starts that conversation that was as constructive as I hope in the 1990s, that we have a national discussion about spending priorities in this government and how we can return our budget to long-term fiscal health, how we can prioritize the only 30 percent of the budget that we debate on this House floor, discretionary spending, and have long-term strategies for two-thirds of our spending, our mandatory spending.

We want a bright future for our children and grandchildren, and I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to pay tribute to Arkansas native Rudy Johnson. Former Private Rudy Johnson will be laid to rest at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock this Friday, 73 years after he was killed in action during World War II.

Private Johnson was drafted into the Army in 1943 and was assigned to the 93nd Division, nicknamed the Buffalo Soldiers and the only African- American division to see combat in Europe during World War II.

Rudy was stationed in northern Italy, fighting against German forces when his unit reported that he was killed in action in 1945 at the age of 20. Private Johnson's remains were finally identified after DNA analysis in 2016, and he was flown home this week to rest where his journey began.

Rudy's sacrifice for Arkansas and America will never be forgotten, and I join his family and all Arkansans in welcoming him back home for his final rest.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to add my congratulations to Mr. MacArthur for continuing to find ways to improve Mr. Obama's and this committee's excellent work on the JOBS Act from some 8 years ago. We have learned a lot. We have seen the benefits of the JOBS Act, and today we have a chance to make it even better by improving Reg. A+.

I appreciate Mr. MacArthur's personal story about his entrepreneurship and how this is an opportunity for more investors in our country and more capital for our entrepreneurs.

Mr. Speaker, this week I attended a meeting where people asked: Why do we need more public companies?

Gosh, that is an easy rhetorical question.

Because we have half the number of public companies we had during the Reagan administration, and we need them for our young people to invest in. We need them for our union workers to have an earning asset in their pension fund.

So we need more public companies in this Nation to share the growth and prosperity of this Nation. That is what this legislation is all about.

I thank Mr. MacArthur for his very straightforward, bipartisan, commonsense increase in the authority from $50 million to $75 million for young, growing companies to raise money under Reg. A+.

Former SEC Commissioner Dan Gallagher advocated the increase in the offering threshold to even $100 million before the SEC adopted their final rule.

Mr. Gallagher expressed his disappointment that this offering threshold was not raised in the final rule from that original statutory cap of $50 million.

We have support through the commission and through the staff for raising this amount, Mr. Speaker, to help our entrepreneurs. Expanding Reg. A+ to include offerings up to $75 million will allow private companies to consider a mini-IPO under Reg. A+. This will give us more competition for capital, driving down cost of capital, driving up the number of opportunities for people to take advantage of going public, growing a prosperous company, and sharing that equity with investors through their exchange-traded fund, through their pension plan, through their 401(k) plan. We want more opportunities to share our Nation's prosperity.

I thank my friend, Mr. MacArthur, for his thoughtful work, and I thank our chairman for his leadership on the committee.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to remember Michael Blakely of Little Rock, who passed away at the age of 67 just before the new year.

Mike served as the director of the Little Rock Zoo for 17 years prior to his death. Next to his family, Mike's greatest love was for animals, from the smallest of snakes to the largest of elephants.

As a teenager, Mike began working as a zoologist in Portland, Oregon, and Oklahoma City before finally joining our community in Little Rock.

In Little Rock, he became the director of the Little Rock Zoo and held that position from 1999 until 2016. His work at our zoo enriched the lives of the thousands who visited each year, as well as the staff that he mentored so well.

He was dearly loved by his wife, Nancy, with whom he shared 34 years of marriage, and his two kids, Thomas and Elizabeth.

Martha and I thank him and his family for their dedication to animals and to the natural state of Arkansas.

Recognizing Bryant City Councilman Jerry Henson

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life of a man who had an indelible impact on central Arkansas, Mr. Jerry Henson, who passed away last month after a long battle with health issues that culminated in a sudden diagnosis of stage 4 liver cancer.

Jerry Henson dedicated his life to answering the call to serve others. From serving as an alderman for the city of Bryant, to volunteering his time at the Boys & Girls Club, Jerry lived his life to serve others.

In 2016, Jerry was honored with the Boys & Girls Club Hometown Hero Award and, in December, he received the Charles Broadway Community Excellence Award.

Jerry's example is one all Americans and Arkansans can admire.

I extend my deepest condolences to Jerry's wife, Star; his children, Stephanie and Gerald; and I pray for the well-being of his family and loved ones during this very difficult time.

Mr. Speaker, this week, the USS Carl Vinson arrives in Da Nang, Vietnam. This is the first visit of a U.S. aircraft carrier to Vietnam in four decades, and obviously for a very different purpose. Together, Vietnam and America are demonstrating the importance of open sea lanes for commerce, security, and regional development.

Arriving aboard the USS Carl Vinson is a young officer named Tower Cook. Tower is from Dallas, Texas, and the grandson of former U.S. Senator John G. Tower of Texas. Senator Tower was elected to the Senate in a 1961 special election and served the people of Texas for 24 years. He led the implementation of President Reagan's strategy of a larger, competitive, modern Navy, and it was an honor for me to work for him the final 2 years of his term in office.

President Reagan and Senator Tower's vision of the importance of the Navy is illustrated by this week's visit of the Carl Vinson to Vietnam. Senator Tower, also a master chief petty officer, is looking down from his heavenly perch with great pride in seeing his grandson, Tower Cook, and the success of the United States Navy.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5078) to amend the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to modify requirements related to mortgage disclosures, 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 will yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in favor of my bill, H.R. 5078, the TRID Improvement Act. This important package will cut through the red tape and level the playing field for making sure that regulations are smarter, fairer, clearer, and more efficient, while, at the same time, ensure that consumers and investors are protected.

You know, Mr. Speaker, when the CFPB, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, was first initiated as a part of the Dodd-Frank Act, one of now-Senator Elizabeth Warren's goals was simpler regulation, that we would streamline regulation, that we would take bulky complex consumer forms and make them simpler. And the TILA-RESPA, truth-in- lending form and the real estate settlement form, were examples in those early days that they were going to make these forms simpler and easier for consumers.

Well, that is what we are talking about today, Mr. Speaker, for it did not become simpler and easier. It became costly, complex, and difficult for consumers.

Today, we are back on the floor on this issue. It is not a new issue or a new concern because the confusion related to TRID has been apparent for years.

In November 2013, the CFPB finalized TRID, combining, as I said, the truth-in-lending form with the real estate settlement procedures form necessary for consumers in this country to close a home loan to have that American Dream. The effective date for this final rule was originally set for mortgage applications received on or after August 1, 2015, but due to the administrative errors of the CFPB, the agency delayed it until October 3, 2015.

In October, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3192, the Homebuyers Assistance Act, which I proudly sponsored, and it passed with a bipartisan vote in this House of 303-121. It would have provided a hold-harmless period for those trying to make a good faith effort to comply with this complex rule.

In April 2016, with complaints pouring in from both homeowners, homebuyers, consumers, bankers, title companies, the CFPB decided to reopen the rulemaking on TILA-RESPA and the TRID rule. The CFPB issued a final rule clarifying and amending certain mortgage disclosure provisions.

So as you can hear from this long story, Mr. Speaker, this rule is complex. So we are here today to try to fix a part of it, a small part of it that will make it easier, better, and more clearer for consumers.

The American Bankers Association stated that if there was one thing to fix about the current regulatory system, it would be the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule, TRID--not qualified mortgage definitions, not the Volcker rule, the TRID rule. Mortgage lenders have seen regulatory change around every aspect of their lending for the last 8 years, and this rule is no exception.

Today, Mr. Speaker, over in the House Small Business Committee, the GAO testified. They have issued a report about the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule. They told the committee today that this rule was one of the most expensive facing community banking across the country, the most burdensome.

So here, the TILA-RESPA rule before our House Small Business Committee says that we are burdening community banks, and they, in turn, are not able to do the kind of work that we want, that we expect for our homebuyers of homes across this country.

CFPB Associate Director David Silberman said the Bureau agreed with the GAO's recommendation, that it assessed the effectiveness of the

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Minnesota for his work on this bill and providing the chance to build a credit file for those who really need it.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pittenger), my friend, who, this week, I know, is having a touching time with his almost five decades of friendship with Reverend Billy Graham--we all salute their work together for the betterment of our world--and who is the vice chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance.

Mr. Speaker, I again thank Mr. Pittenger and Mr. Ellison for their work on this measure, and for all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have brought these bills to the floor and, particularly, for speaking out for consumers on bills that will help consumers have more access to credit, whether it is a mortgage and a speedier, easier, more transparent mortgage closing or the chance to build credit, with the work from my friend from Minnesota and my friend from North Carolina.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud the work of NBA all-star and Arkansas native Joe Johnson of the Sacramento Kings with a local youth basketball program, the Arkansas H.A.W.K.S.

The Arkansas H.A.W.K.S, an acronym meaning Hard At Work Kids, is a member of the Amateur Athletic Union organization dedicated to the development of athletic ability in American youth. Under the leadership of Coach Bill Ingram, the team's goal extends beyond the court and into the communities of central Arkansas, building a dynasty of basketball players who seek to make a lasting impact on their neighborhoods, city, State, and our country.

Before he was a seven-time NBA all-star, Joe Johnson was a student at the historic Little Rock Central High School and a star player on the Arkansas H.A.W.K.S roster. In this partnership, the teams and players connected with the H.A.W.K.S will be given unique opportunities, including, mentorship, player development, and academic assistance.

I would like to extend a hearty debt of gratitude and congratulations to Joe Johnson and the Arkansas H.A.W.K.S program for their selfless and worthwhile investment in central Arkansas youth.

Honoring the Life and Legacy of Albert Yarnell

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and the legacy of one of Arkansas' great innovators and leaders, my friend Albert Yarnell of Searcy, Arkansas, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 94.

Albert worked for over 75 years with his family to make Yarnell's Ice Cream one of the most successful regional ice cream companies in the United States. Yarnell's Ice Cream created many unique flavors, such as the Razorbacks' ice cream, Woo Pig Chewy; and my personal favorite, peppermint.

Yarnell was an icon of Arkansas business and anchor of the Searcy and White County business community for decades. He is a past president of the Searcy Chamber of Commerce and served as mayor of Searcy. He was inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame in 2007 and is a member of the Arkansas Dairy Products Hall of Fame. He was a role model and friend to many across our State.

I extend my respect, affection, and prayers to his many dear friends, family, and loved ones.

Recognizing North Little Rock Middle School Teacher Dawn McLain

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize North Little Rock Middle School teacher Dawn McLain. Dawn, a sixth grade science and math teacher, recently was named a 2017-2018 recipient of the national Milken Educator Award, one of only 44 across our country. This prestigious honor is given to teachers with exceptional educational talent who impact students both in and out of the classroom.

Dawn has not only increased her students' test scores, but she has engaged her students through robotics, design modeling, and rocketry. She is a strong proponent of project-based learning, technology integration, and data deployment. Dawn is also focused on helping her students build life skills that will help them succeed into adulthood and works to build strong relationships with both parents and her students.

Teachers like Dawn prove that education is one of the best investments America can make. I am proud to represent her and all the teachers of central Arkansas who are making a difference in the lives of our kids.

Recognizing Chief Warrant Officer 2 John Heffernan

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize one of Arkansas' finest, Chief Warrant Officer 2 John Heffernan, who passed away late last month at the age of 77. His leadership and dedication to our State and Nation as a soldier, a veteran, and a volunteer is an example to all Arkansans and all Americans.

Heffernan enlisted in the Army in 1962, and after more than 27 years of military service, John retired from the Arkansas Army National Guard. For the next 23 years, John provided his services at Camp Robinson and the Little Rock Air Force Base. He was one of many of the strongest advocates in central Arkansas for all matters related to our military veterans and their families.

For the better part of half a century, John was a selfless servant to others, giving more of himself than he had to give. He had a passion for volunteering, rivaled only by his passion of service to his country.

I extend my respect, affection, and prayers to his family and their loved ones.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to come before the House during this rules debate on this package of bipartisan bills that have been worked on for two Congresses now and that address a number of issues that I think Members on both sides of the aisle and our committee recognize would improve the capital market system, improve access to capital for business and consumers, and, also, reduce the red tape, the bureaucracy associated with trying to run a community bank and provide services to our consumers, both businesses and families, that has been made so challenging since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act almost 8 years ago.

You know, I was coming to Washington yesterday, and I was reading the weekend business section. There was a story there about Richard Griffin from Crossett, Arkansas, who has owned a community bank there for decades. It is about a $30 million, $35 million bank.

He just said that, with his 13 employees, he just couldn't comply with the level of regulatory burden following Dodd-Frank that was so geared to our biggest financial institutions, our most complex financial institutions, companies like those headquartered up in New York. He just felt compelled to exit the business and leave that town, leave the local board of directors, the local management team, and turn it over to an out-of-State company.

Crossett, Arkansas, is a fine town, and it deserves a good banking presence by a number of competitors, home to Georgia-Pacific and all of their activities there.

Mr. Speaker, these bills are, as I say, bipartisan, and they are needed across this country. Let me just touch on a few of them.

The ones that I think provide the most benefit to community bankers and businesses and customers of those local banks are, first of all, Mr. Stivers' bill, which eliminates a barrier, a well-intended licensing provision if you wanted to make mortgage loans after the '08 crisis.

Congress thought it was a good idea to make sure that mortgage lenders were qualified, so they made them get a license. We can debate whether that was too much work or not or whether it was worthwhile or not. They made bankers get it and nonbanks.

But in this bill, Mr. Stivers simply says, if you are going to try to change jobs and you hold a mortgage license, that you just have a transition period where you don't have to go requalify for that if you are going to work for a nonbank or you are going to work for somebody in another State. It only passed our committee 60-0, so it doesn't get much more bipartisan than that. That will help banks reduce red tape, recruit loan officers, and get them to work faster serving customers.

Likewise, the TRID Improvement Act of 2017 is something that I worked on in a variety of ways, and it is included in this package. It allows States where you can buy both a personal policy for your title insurance as well as the title coverage for a closing to show you the real discount.

Mr. Speaker, the real irony here is that, when Elizabeth Warren was a staffer and a college professor, one of her goals for the CFPB was simplification, that we take all these complicated forms and we would make them easier to use.

Well, here is an example of the exact opposite. The new Truth in Lending forms for real estate settlements were made more complicated. After 8 years of dealing with it, this was a classic example of trying to make it simpler.

Let's actually show the consumer what the real closing costs are for their title insurance. This will speed mortgage closings. This will reduce errors in mortgage closings. This will reduce consumer confusion about the so-called Know Before You Owe rule. I would argue this rule has made it much more difficult to know what you owe before you borrow it, and this is a small step in improving that.

Mr. Speaker, these things help our community banks.

There is one other in this package we are considering today, Mr. McHenry's bill, which allows community banks that originate loans, consumer loans, commercial loans, that are selling those loans to a nonbank, a nonbank servicer or a nonbank packager, to be able to pass through the rate that they originated the loan for. There was a Supreme Court case that has made that more complicated, that said you can't pass through the rate and that State banking laws don't preempt our State usury laws for this kind of work.

So I commend Mr. McHenry for this, because this improves liquidity to our community banking system and, again, lowers rates for consumers, makes products more accessible, and makes our small community banks more competitive.

I will close by just touching on a couple of other measures that I think help businesses, help capital markets, help capital flow.

One, you just heard my friend from California (Mr. Royce) talk about his bill. That will help capital markets flow. That will create parity among our exchanges, lowering costs for companies that want to go public and have their action there, raise capital on the public markets.

Mr. Duffy has a bill that requires the SEC to actually get a subpoena if they want to get source code from a capital markets provider, someone who is managing money, someone who is offering to manage portfolios or offer a mutual fund company, and this is very, very helpful. I think, when you want to get your secret sauce for your business and the government wants it, they ought to have a subpoena.

That is all that this bill does. It doesn't change the rules about that. It doesn't change anything other than saying, if you want this information, you ought to go and get a subpoena, and I believe that will improve capital formation.

So, Mr. Speaker, these are good bills. These are bipartisan bills. These are bills that we have worked on for two Congresses that will help consumers, increase access to credit, lower the cost of that credit, and increase capital flows to the business sector to support the growth that the American people want.

I appreciate the Rules Committee allowing me to speak on these bills. I appreciate Chairman Hensarling putting them together.

And to my friends on the other side, these are bills that went through regular order.

These are bills that are bipartisan. These are bills that have the support of the opposition. We have put them together in a bipartisan package today under this rule because our friends down the hall in the United States Senate are rapidly moving a bipartisan package of improvements for our capital markets and our banks, something that we want, something that we have waited some 8 years for. So this allows us to work better with our colleagues over in the Senate, where 14 Democrats have partnered with Senator Crapo on the Banking Committee to move bipartisan legislation that will help us grow our economy.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 3978, the TRID Improvement Act.

I want to focus my comments on the actual improvements to the Truth in Lending and RESPA form, TILA-RESPA, which is now referred to as

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the service of Fire Chief Gregory Summers as he retires after 35 years of service to the city of Little Rock.

Chief Summers served as the 12th fire chief for the city of Little Rock and became the department's first African-American fire chief. He was appointed chief in 2009, and his leadership has had an indelible impact on central Arkansas communities.

Under Chief Summer's leadership, the department earned Class 1 status by the Insurance Services Office and received international accreditation through the Center for Public Safety Excellence. This saves our community insurance dollars and improves safety. The Little Rock Fire Department is one of only 57 fire departments across the country to receive this recognition.

My congratulations and best wishes for Chief Summers' future endeavors.