Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1366) to amend the Investment Company Act of 1940 to terminate an exemption for companies located in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and any other possession of the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on this bill.

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

Today I rise in support of H.R. 1366, the U.S. Territories Investor Protection Act, and I thank my friend and colleague from New York for her exceptional efforts in designing and bringing this bill to us today.

H.R. 1366 repeals a provision in the Investment Company Act of 1940 that exempts investment companies in Puerto Rico, Guam, and other U.S. territories from registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC, so that they have to play by the same rules as their mainland counterparts.

When Congress first enacted the Investment Company Act in the 1940s, a nonregistration exemption for investment companies in the noncontiguous territories made a lot of sense as it was extremely expensive and difficult for the SEC to send staff to travel to these territories and inspect the local companies. In fact, Mr. Speaker, back in the 1940s, Eastern Air Lines bragged of their 6-hour-and-10-minute service between New York and San Juan one way for $1,700 in today's money. So, in fact, it was challenging to get to the territories.

But with all the significant advances in technology and travel, these logistical barriers no longer exist. As such, this bill repeals this archaic exemption and provides a reasonable and safe harbor to allow those companies currently subject to the exemption to transition.

Similar legislation passed the House in the last Congress by voice vote, and, earlier this year, H.R. 1366 passed the House Financial Services Committee by a unanimous vote.

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

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

I want to thank my friend from New York for her leadership and her voice on behalf of Puerto Rico and the islands in this regard, and for her long public service and particular leadership in this time of important change in Puerto Rico.

Recently, Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to take an all-too-quick trip to San Juan to assess the current economic conditions on the island. It was too brief in that it was less than a day, which seems completely unfair to any visitor to the beautiful island of Puerto Rico.

I want to thank my host, our distinguished delegate from the Commonwealth, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon for hosting me on that visit. I thank her for her cosponsorship on this bill and her leadership on the island here in Congress. We are grateful to have her as a new Member of this body.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Miss Gonzalez-Colon).

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

Mr. Chair, I thank my friend from Florida for the opportunity to speak on this bill. And as a member of the House Financial Services Committee, I am grateful for the bipartisan leadership in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in bringing H.R. 1694 to the floor, for it is high time that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be subject to the regimen of the Freedom of Information Act. This critical oversight tool is sorely past due for these government- sponsored agencies.

Over the past four decades, we have seen the waste and largess exhibited by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac embedded in their everyday operations. And while they got their start during the height of the Depression and performed an able task of setting high standards for the liquidity for mortgage credit, they have long outlived their original charter.

Oakley Hunter, the president and chairman of Fannie Mae back in the 1970s, described Fannie Mae as the world's largest floating crap game. Nothing has changed.

In the early 1980s, we found Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dominating, as they do today, 9 out of 10 mortgages in the United States, and yet they were highly unprofitable and highly suspect in their management. During that time, Senator William Proxmire led the charge in the United States Senate seeking answers about the enterprises' executive compensation.

Flash-forward to the 1990s, we saw executive compensation at Fannie Mae run amok.

During the 2000s, their imprudence and desire for growth paved the way for the U.S. housing crisis and global economic collapse.

More recently, we have discovered that Fannie Mae is spending $171 million in taxpayer funds on a new Taj Mahal office in Washington, D.C., to replace their already extraordinarily luxurious campus on Wisconsin Avenue, which one Washingtonian, Mr. Chairman, described as what Versailles would look like if Louis XIV had any money. According to the inspector general's report from last June, this 15-year cost of relocating Fannie Mae's headquarters and the construction of the new building now topped $770 million.

Mr. Chairman, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac languish in Federal conservatorship following their collapse from the 2008 housing crisis, it is high time to apply FOIA to these GSEs and bring accountability and transparency for the American taxpayers.

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues today to honor the life and legacy of one of Arkansas's great leaders--Congressman Jay Dickey, who passed away last week after a battle with Parkinson's disease at the age of 77.

Jay represented the 4th District of Arkansas after becoming the first-ever Republican to hold the seat.

He was a great public servant who made many contributions to Arkansas and our Nation as a whole.

I have always admired his irrepressible enthusiasm for lower Arkansas and his dedication to his constituents.

We are all fortunate to have had someone with such a strong character be a leader for our state.

Jay leaves behind a legacy of warmth and passion, and his contributions to the Natural State will continue to live on for generations to come.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the Days of Remembrance and pay tribute to all those who were affected by the enormity, the calamity, and the horrors of the Holocaust.

On April 11, 1945, at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, General Patton's Third Army liberated Buchenwald concentration camp, with the help of my father-in-law, Bill McKenzie, then a young 22-year-old U.S Army officer, fresh from the corps at Texas A&M University.

Bill said of that day: ``I will not describe the horrible sight of our entry into Buchenwald, but I will tell you this--that the crematorium was still

burning, dead were stacked like cordwood on large trailers, and the living dead were starving.''

Some 65 years later, I would deliver the eulogy at Bill's funeral and read a condolence letter sent to our family from the nephew of a survivor he rescued that day.

As a member of the Greatest Generation, Bill will always be remembered by us as a hero, and his role liberating innocent people from the Nazi Germany death camps is a proud distinction for our family. His story serves as a reminder that these atrocities have no place in our world.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support today of H.R. 1219, the Supporting America's Innovators Act, introduced by the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry), the chief deputy whip. I am proud to have his leadership in promoting capital formation in our country.

Yesterday, as he has noted, marks the fifth anniversary of the JOBS Act, which has had a positive impact on easing capital formation woes for small businesses and startups.

I am proud to represent and have the opportunity to work every day with The Venture Center in Little Rock and its FinTech Accelerator program, and the innovation hub in North Little Rock and its medical technology innovation hub. These high-tech innovations, combined with angel funds, give good-paying job opportunities to people out in the heartland and not just on the East and West Coasts.

But in order for these innovative startups to grow, they have got to have access to greater sources of angel capital, and raising capital in rural America is a challenge.

Having helped design and offer private placements for emerging companies during my whole career, and participating in angel funds in 2 decades prior to coming to Congress, I know firsthand the importance of having a multitude of options for our small businesses to raise capital, no matter what their stage of formation.

This bill builds on the success of the JOBS Act by providing an update to a limit set in 1940, Mr. Speaker, limiting the number of accredited investors that can participate in a qualified venture fund. I am glad we are rushing to a change since 1940. And this simple change from 100 to 250 really allows more angel investors to participate in funds of this nature across the country and gives particular advantage off the East and West Coasts.

I thank the chairman for the time and my good friend from North Carolina for his leadership. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this worthy measure.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize the Quapaw Area Council, which, for the first time, was recognized by the Boy Scouts of America's Journey to Excellence program as a Gold Level Council, the highest award possible.

The Boy Scouts of America's Journey to Excellence program is designed to encourage excellence and reward success at all levels of scouting, measuring several indicators that include fiscal management, fundraising, youth advancement, youth camping, and membership recruitment.

As a fellow Scout, I am proud of the high standards our Scouts in Arkansas are setting. This achievement is a credit to the dedication of members of the council, countless volunteers, devoted parents, and committed Scouts.

On behalf of all Arkansans, congratulations. We look forward to following your continued success for generations of Scouts to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to the impending crisis in Africa. More than 20 million people in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia, and Nigeria face starvation and famine, according to the U.N. Secretary-General.

At a time when the mainstream media and the Washington press corps is obsessed with President Trump, they remain silent when there is a mounting disaster that could make the Syrian refugee crisis look like child's play.

All four of these countries have weak or failing governments, and each is in the midst of a seemingly endless conflict perpetrated by evil terrorist groups, such as Boko Haram, al Shabaab, and al-Qaida.

Pouring the billions of needed dollars into the region will help stop the coming famine, but it will take American leadership working with partners in the region willing to take a stand to rid their continent of these terrorist threats.

I will continue to bring light to the imminent crisis in Africa, and I urge my colleagues to focus on this critical issue.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Michigan, the distinguished chairman of the Capital Markets, Securities, and Investments Subcommittee, for yielding the time.

Mr. Speaker, what we are here talking about today is opportunity. We are not talking about the money interests. We are not talking about waving the bloody shirt of the Enron debacle. What we are talking about here today, Mr. Speaker, is in the interest of innovators. It is in the interest of talented Millennials who have huge student loans, who have a great idea to benefit themselves, their community, their economy. We are here to be in the interest of hardworking workers who have no big investment dollars, but have an abundance of sweat equity. We are here in the interest, Mr. Speaker, of building businesses and growing this economy. If we do that, we are growing jobs and opportunity for our citizens. And we are in the interest, Mr. Speaker, again, not of the money interest, but of efforts all over this country, led by people like John Delaney of Maryland and Stephen Case of Virginia, to build out venture capital and entrepreneurship in places other than Boston, Massachusetts; Menlo Park; places like Detroit; Flint; Little Rock; St. Louis; and Chicago. That is why we are here today. This bill is a simple, commonsense, small step in that effort.

For many years, in my private sector life, I helped young companies form and raise capital for them. In my own business, I extended stock options and

opportunities to buy stock to those very people who did not have the excess cash to invest. Many companies issue stock to compensate their employees, but it is especially important to startup businesses and private businesses. It is especially important to those businesses that are trying to compete with big private enterprises that have a public stock to offer as an incentive. And structuring competitive compensation in private businesses is very challenging.

Further, for employees, this stock ownership is a huge source of pride, allowing individuals to participate in the growth and prosperity that their hard work and sweat equity have helped build.

Through rule 701, the SEC allows private companies to offer up to $5 million in their own securities without additional regulatory bureaucracy. My friend from Illinois (Mr. Hultgren) and my friend from Maryland (Mr. Delaney) have simply made a small change, Mr. Speaker; and that is to raise that commensurate with inflation to $10 million to reflect the world we live in today. This is not rocket science; this is something we need to do for building our economy.

As we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the signing of the JOBS Act by President Obama and the successes this legislation has yielded in capital formation for small and emerging growth companies, I urge my colleagues to support this effort by my friend from Illinois in this bipartisan, commonsense job-creating proposal.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Captain John Joseph Kearney, who passed away on Pearl Harbor Day last year at the too-young age of 62.

After graduating just 2 years before me at Catholic High School for Boys in Little Rock, John received a Presidential appointment to the United States Naval Academy. Upon graduation and commission, he followed in his father's footsteps and pursued a lifetime career in the Navy, ultimately retiring at the rank of captain.

Captain Kearney dedicated his life to his distinguished military career and received numerous honors and medals for his service, which included work here in Washington and on the 7th Fleet staff in Japan.

John leaves behind a legacy of warmth and passion, and his example is one all Americans and Arkansans can admire. I extend my respect, affection, and prayers to his fine family and loved ones.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 202.

Personal Explanation

Mr. Speaker, the distinguished minority leader from Maryland certainly knows my great affection for him and his leadership of the opposition. We are the opposition here. I have to say that should he not have access to C-SPAN, like all of us, we invite him to tune in to C-SPAN and the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Energy and Commerce and enjoy this long markup, Mr. Leader, and it is quite the contrary.

I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.

I thank the gentleman. Reclaiming my time, I recognize that. But the American people, Mr. Leader, want us to work to correct the deficiencies in the Affordable Care Act, to repeal and replace it, make it better for the American people, to lower premiums, give more access, let people choose the plan they want.

I would remind the leader that there was no C-SPAN camera in Ms. Pelosi's office when the original Affordable Care Act was cobbled together over Christmas break, certainly not in the light of the American people.

So I urge people who are watching C-SPAN today, go to readthebill.gop, understand what is going on to repair and replace the Affordable Care Act, engage with your Member of Congress, and let's make health care available for all of our citizens. Let's make it truly affordable. Let's take care of the least of these, but let's do it in a patient-centered, market-based approach.

Mr. Speaker, today I come to the House floor to honor my friends at Philander Smith College in Little Rock. They celebrate their Founder's Day, commemorating the 140th anniversary of their founding in 1877. Philander Smith is a Historically Black College and an early higher education institution built and created by former African-American slaves, the first such institution west of the Mississippi River.

Graduating thousands of students over its 140-year legacy, the college is particularly important to Arkansas' history, economy, and higher education community. Currently, approximately 760 students are enrolled at Philander Smith, and the college continues to play an integral role in preparing predominantly minority and low-income students for careers and employment in Arkansas and throughout our country. I always enjoy my opportunities to be on campus, engaging with their bright, dedicated young minds.

The college's president, Dr. Roderick Smothers, recently joined his HBCU colleagues here in Washington to meet with the White House and leadership in Congress and talk about the challenges facing our Historically Black Colleges and their students. I appreciate Dr. Smothers' dedication to his students and their education at Philander Smith. I am proud to represent such a historic and valuable institution.

I congratulate Philander Smith on its 140th anniversary. I look forward to many more decades of their success.

Mr. Speaker, on March 7, 2017, I missed the vote for H.R. 1362.

Had I been present, I would have voted yea on Roll Call No. 127.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Ducks Unlimited on its 80th anniversary. Over the past eight decades, Ducks Unlimited has partnered with local communities and Members of Congress to support conservation of millions of acres of waterfowl habitats across North America.

As a lifelong outdoorsman, I know the value of these habitats and the benefits that they provide to countless Americans who enjoy these areas for a wide array of recreational and scientific activities.

We must ensure the preservation of these habitats for future generations, and I know that Ducks Unlimited will work to ensure this goal for another 80 years.

I would like to extend my thanks and congratulations to DU and wish them continued success for many generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, as we gather tonight in the historic House Chamber, where so much of our Nation's history has been debated and dispatched, it is good to hear my friend from Georgia talk about the challenges that face our country with the failure of the Affordable Care Act and his thoughtful presentation on just precisely what we need to do to save Americans from the failures of this bad law.

It is an honor to be in the historic House Chamber where every day the distinguished lawgivers in our history look down on this Chamber. George Mason, who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, looks down on the Speaker's dais, as does Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Declaration of Independence.

No speaker stands at the dais and addresses the people's House without the steely gaze of Moses, the ultimate, most revered lawmaker, Mr. Speaker. He looks down on you and on this Chamber for truth and justice.

Mr. Speaker, we Americans work hard. We work hard every day of the week, and we love Friday. We love Fridays so much that we say: Thank God it's Friday. Over the years, TGIF has become not only something that everyone in our country who works hard recognizes, but it became the name of a popular restaurant.

In the autumn, we love our Friday nights watching high school football. In the winter, maybe it is catching a movie and eating a pizza with our friends or family. In the spring, Friday can find us catching a baseball game, the American pastime.

Mr. Speaker, last Friday night, I was in Cairo, Egypt, and what I saw was that same joyous, happy experience of families sharing their successes of the week; celebrating a great soccer victory; clapping to wonderful, warm local music; and witnessing the squealing of their kids running around their parents, celebrating a birthday or just a good week at work or school.

The streets of the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar in Cairo were chock-full last Friday, Mr. Speaker, with the living and the loving, just going about that weekly experience pursuing their own version of happiness and TGIF.

Friday night in Cairo, the land of the Pharaoh, the land of the beginning of much of human education and civilization, there was dining and bargaining in the bizarre that has been the centerpiece of trading and manufacturing and merchandising for half a millennia.

Mr. Speaker, my trip to Egypt was marked not just with witnessing the joy of Egyptian family life and seeing and sharing what we have in common. It was a reminder that the 91 million Egyptians are on the front line of the global war on terror, a war that unites the leadership of Egypt and the United States arm-in-arm to design and implement the most effective strategies we can to defeat the malevolent evil enemy of ISIS, al-Qaida, Boko Haram, and their bloody cohorts across the globe.

In my view, after the approach of the past 8 years, our enemies are stronger and engaged more broadly than ever before. Nothing has driven this point home more than a visit in Cairo to the St. Peter and St. Paul's Coptic Church.

Located on the plaza adjacent to the offices of His Holiness Coptic Pope Tawadros II, there was joy there last Saturday morning, Mr. Speaker, listening to the chants of the priests, the reverence of the families in the pews, the kids again squealing and smiling in their parents' arms.

But, Mr. Speaker, on the periphery of that joy was a stark reminder of the destruction there on December 11, when a male ISIS jihadist suicide bomber entered that church disguised as a woman and detonated his vest, murdering 25, mostly women, splattering the walls and the floors of God's House with their blood.

As I walked through that same entrance last Saturday, Mr. Speaker, the church has developed a reverent shrine to those who were lost. The pockmarks in the marble are there from the shrapnel from the vest.

But that church is a symbol of unity in Egypt, not division, as it was visited by President el-Sisi, a devout Muslim leader of all Egyptians, who came to share his concern, his affection for Egyptians no matter what their religious background. Best summarized by the wise Pope of the Coptic church--Mr. Speaker, we have to remind ourselves that the word ``Coptic,'' of course, comes from the Greek word ``aigyptios,'' which means Egypt. The Coptic church is as old as St. Mark's arrival in Alexandria in the first century.

That wise old Pope told us, and I think really, Mr. Speaker, captured the whole spirit of the Egyptian people and the resolve that is taking place in that country under President el-Sisi when he said, Egyptians take two things from the Nile River on which they have lived some 5,000 years. They take water, and they take moderation in their beliefs.

Mr. Speaker, tonight I wanted to come to the House Chamber and pay tribute to the Egyptian people for being on those front lines in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism, pay tribute to the Christian and Muslim people of Egypt working together to defeat this ideology. I want to commend President el-Sisi for his courageous leadership in the Muslim world.

Coinciding with the birthday celebration of the Prophet Muhammad on New Year's Day 2015, President el-Sisi went to the Islamic world's most respected institution, Al-Azhar University, and called upon the world's 1.6 billion faithful Muslims and the faith's imams to support a religious revolution. He called on the leaders to reject the mindset of death and jihad.

Mr. Speaker, in both Egypt and America, we come from dust and to dust we shall return. We are made in God's image, and God has granted us such unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. While we are breathing, each of us has an obligation to serve our fellow man, work to value our societies and make them the best that they can be.

In January, we witnessed a change in leadership here in the United States. We had a former President who grew up in Hawaii and grew up riding the waves in Hawaii. He rode a wave into the White House and then drifted along, bobbing on top of those waves for 8 years. Now, Mr. Speaker, we have a President in the White House who is not riding the waves; he is making waves. It is my hope that he will execute a new direction and take new actions to win the global war on terrorism.

I have to say, Mr. Speaker, whether it takes 3 months or 30 years, I won't rest until we unify the civilized world to reject jihad, reject the terror we saw at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in Cairo. Mr. Speaker, we need to condemn those who condone it. We need to condemn those who finance it. We need to reject it when we see it taught in the mosque. We need to reject it on Facebook. We need to reject it in the media. We must condemn those who say it is wrong but stand silent.

Mr. Speaker, there are no bystanders in this fight, and there is no substitute for victory. Mr. Speaker, all across the world tonight, we Egyptians, we Americans, we want our Fridays back. TGIF, Mr. Speaker,

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 6 o'clock and 4 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Friday, February 17, 2017, at 1 p.m.