Floor Statements

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2578, a bill to enact a short- term extension of the National Flood Insurance Program. This program has over 5 million policyholders who have come to rely upon it, but it is also a flawed program that is in need of a customer-based set of reforms.

Flooding is the most common, destructive, and expensive of the natural disasters we face. I am confident in saying what worked in the Lyndon Johnson administration on disasters doesn't really work this year, in 2019.

The Financial Services Committee has held numerous hearings on this matter over the last decade, hearing from dozens and dozens of witnesses from all points of view, including consumers, local communities, and the insurance industry. The data we have accumulated from those hearings, or lack thereof, suggests that there is great need for programmatic reforms, reforms that include better data, increased transparency, better technology, and more innovation. These can be bipartisan reforms.

Moreover, the NFIP owes more than $20 billion in debt to the American taxpayer. This is a major issue, despite the fact that last Congress $16 billion of that debt was canceled. So it is a program in need of systemic reforms.

So what kind of National Flood Insurance Program do we want to have for Americans going forward? An insurance program that is equipped with the tools it needs to perform its insurance functions, pay claims, incentivize mitigation, and ultimately reduce our Nation's flood risk, or should the NFIP continue the current system of distributing benefits as needed, ultimately requiring annual appropriations as flood risk grows?

I hope that Members of this House will choose to support important reforms to modernize an outdated program. There are reasonable steps that we can take to reform and innovate in a bipartisan fashion. Strengthening the NFIP and giving policyholders 21st century options to match their 21st century expectations, I think, should be our outcome.

Private insurance, better technology, more mapping data, faster claims processing, and rethinking old underwriting models are just a few of the tools readily available for modernizing the NFIP.

At the same time, we must also consider how we can use risk sharing to offload some of the NFIP burdens and the cost savings that come from spreading risk to others who are qualified, capable, and willing to manage it off the backs of the taxpayers and more broadly distributed to those who are willing to take that risk.

Building a more resilient and cost-effective NFIP are goals that will benefit all consumers and the American people, but these are long-term goals to which we can only aspire by passing this short-term extension today.

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for Chairwoman Waters' engaging and reaching out to committee Republicans to work together on this measure to give us space and time so that we can have the bipartisan reforms that I think we can come to terms on later this year. But I also want to thank Chairwoman Waters for agreeing to sit down with me as the ranking Republican on the committee and committee Republicans, roll up our sleeves, and get to work over the next few weeks and really collaborate on a full reauthorization bill that addresses her concerns, my concerns, committee Democrat and Republican concerns, and the needs of the public. I think we can come to that conclusion.

I think we can bring a bipartisan bill to the floor, and I appreciate that Chairwoman Waters has had that appropriate outreach to committee Republicans. That is a hopeful sign for our opportunity to legislate this Congress.

The American people deserve an effective and efficient Flood Insurance Program that they can rely on. By working together in a bipartisan way, this Congress can ensure that that continues to happen, and I am sure we can meet that expectation.

Mr. Speaker, I would encourage my colleagues to support this short- term extension with the hope and the goal of our bringing a bipartisan bill back before the House that can get the wide support of this Chamber.

Mr. Speaker, I also commend the engagement of Chairwoman Waters on this matter and a number of other matters where we have been able to work together in a bipartisan way. I am hopeful and it is my expectation that we will be able to work together on this matter over the coming weeks.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I stand to recognize the long career and service of Clinton Columbus Jones, the dean of the Republican Financial Services Committee staff. Clinton has been on the Hill for over 23 years, and he is leaving to join the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

A native of both Kansas and my home State of North Carolina, Clinton first came to Capitol Hill in 1993, after earning an urban planning degree and then a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

While I don't agree with his choice of university, he is a fine and upstanding human being who has had a fantastic career on the Hill. He has served under seven different full committee chairmen on the Financial Services Committee, eight Republican Housing Subcommittee chairmen or ranking members, and has helped draft some of the most important housing and insurance bills of this generation, including the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016, and the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2012.

In addition to his work on the Hill, Clinton has taught prelaw at Howard University for over 20 years and is a single father to a wonderful 15-year-old son and great student, Clinton Beamon Jones IV.

We hate to see him go, but we thank him for his service, not just to this institution, but to the American people. We cherish his friendship and the knowledge he has imparted.

With that, I ask my colleagues to give a moment of recognition to Clinton Jones.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Waters of the House Financial Services Committee for offering this resolution.

I rise in support of this resolution, and I look forward to working with the gentlewoman from California to incorporate its basic principles into future legislation produced by our committee to tackle the illicit drug trade, international financing that moves around the globe that is illicit in nature, as well as combating human trafficking and using the financial system to traffic in human beings, which I think is absolutely abhorrent.

This resolution reflects the Financial Services Committee's longstanding emphasis that we have on protecting our national security and ensuring the integrity of the financial system. The size and scope of that system, along with the preeminent role of the U.S. dollar in global trade, requires us to remain vigilant against illicit finance, money laundering, and other significant threats.

Already this Congress, the House has passed several of our committee's bills designed to identify new risks in illicit finance and to strengthen our banks' cooperation with law enforcement authorities. We are also looking forward to addressing a more comprehensive reform of processes under the Bank Secrecy Act in order to crack down on money laundering much more effectively.

We believe technology can be a great driver of those reforms and more efficiently and effectively enforce those laws. We are working together to achieve that bipartisan outcome and update to that very important piece of legislation. This, I think, represents a down payment, rhetorically, on that interest that we have of combating illicit finance wherever it may be.

I hope that we can continue to engage in a meaningful way in that bipartisan dialogue to achieve reforms to the Bank Secrecy Act, with the understanding it is important to safeguard our national security, while upholding a financial system that is open, transparent, and efficient and that is, in many ways, the envy of the rest of the world, without unduly burdening businesses in a manner that ends up turning away legitimate trade and commerce. Striking that balance is obviously that fine art that this Congress seeks to do, and we hope to do that well coming out of our committee.

Now, Republicans and Democrats should also be able to agree that these laws and regulations require us to strike a balance. That has to be a stated objective, and I am hopeful that the chairwoman will continue to work with us based on that principle. I am encouraged by that opportunity on the Bank Secrecy Act and Illicit Finance for us to tackle those items.

I thank the chairwoman for sponsoring this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support it, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gooden), my colleague and a new member of the House Financial Services Committee, for the purposes of a statement.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to note for the House that the original draft of this resolution that was put forward and made public by committee Democrats was not one that committee Republicans had vetted. And, in that conversation, we had revised the text of this resolution.

So, out there today is the original text Chairwoman Waters had offered. She undertook, through her staff and through my staff, and we worked out the changes, so the language here is something that should receive unanimous approval of the House of Representatives.

In fact, it states some very important things that we find important in

the House Financial Services Committee.

Now, if there is illicit financing and our laws are not detecting it, that is a problem, is it not? And we should address that problem, however it manifests itself.

And we have two examples here, using artwork and using real estate; but we also would use money in order to possess that artwork, that real estate. So we want to make sure that we are getting at that money, that flow, within our financial markets and getting at that.

There is bipartisan agreement, and the language here is not the original language Chairwoman Waters offered and maybe, perhaps, the one that she would want to pass. But, in her effort at bipartisanship, she worked with committee Republicans, changed the resolution, and now before us we have a new resolution.

This new resolution should meet the approval of everyone in this House.

I want to state that very clearly. This is not a Democrat product. Actually, it is because Chairwoman Waters did author it, but she was willing to hear our feedback on the Republican side. That is helpful.

What this would be is the fifth bill that we have passed out of the House Financial Services Committee that has received bipartisan support. That is a good sign. That is a good sign, in a broken Washington, that we can actually do some sensible things.

And outlined here, this resolution got out of, really, prescriptive positions that we are still negotiating on on this idea of beneficial ownership, which our colleague, Subcommittee Chair Maloney, has been working on intensely, as have French Hill from Arkansas and Blaine Luetkemeyer from Missouri on the Republican side.

And they are still working through the contents of that, and we are still not in agreement. So we removed that language, and I think that is a very hopeful thing.

I didn't really want to get into the mechanics of how we came to this, but I think it is important for the House to note that that work has been done. Before us is a new resolution that should be able to meet the support of the House.

Mr. Speaker, I want to finish by saying this, that Chairwoman Waters said she would work with us on this; she worked with us on this. I am grateful for that.

Recognizing that there are more Democrats than Republicans in the House, the gentlewoman could have passed this resolution if she saw fit, on a partisan basis, but she thought it was important to actually have a bipartisan outcome so we can have bipartisan legislating following this.

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

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

I want to reiterate that what my colleague, Mrs. Maloney, the chair of the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets outlined, outlined is an ongoing conversation we are having on her piece of legislation around beneficial ownership. We are still working through that process. I think the talks have been productive, but there is a lot of work to do. There is not quite consensus yet on how we achieve that right balance.

Notwithstanding that, you have to look at the contents of the resolution before us. I think this is, while not perfect--if I had drafted the resolution, I would have also included the international drug trade and human trafficking as two highly important areas that need our attention and focus as policymakers. But that is a sin of omission rather than commission.

I would also target a broader set of regimes. ISIS is targeted in this, and I think that is strong. We have bipartisan agreement that we have to fight this terrorism network and evil ideology that they have put upon the world, and how they act out in this, and we have to have a concerted effort, as Americans, in a bipartisan way, to fight them.

I would also add to that the regimes in China, Russia, and North Korea as other state actors that are doing really horrible things in terms of cyber threats, but also through money laundering--not just a regime, but there are a lot of regimes around the world.

So this is not a complete resolution, but I think it is worthy of our support. I think this is a first step in that longer conversation about modernizing the Bank Secrecy Act and making sure that we are targeting illicit financing.

I ask my colleagues to vote for this resolution, and I look forward to continuing the conversation with my Democratic colleagues on more bipartisan outcomes.

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

Madam Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted: YEA on Roll Call No. 104, and YEA on Roll Call No. 105.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Republican leader on the Rules Committee for yielding.

It is unfortunate we are here today to debate a bill like this. This bill is nothing more than a partisan power grab. That is the sum and substance of what has been offered here as H.R. 1.

This is about the priorities of Democrats in the House, and the priorities of Democrats in the House is to change our election laws in such a way as to benefit their party and hurt the American voters and their will at the ballot box. That is the deep problem here with H.R. 1.

This is a partisan power grab by one party to seize power by manipulating our laws to get an outcome counter to the will of the people.

It is not about fairness. It is just the opposite. This is a problem, the process that the Democrats went through, the majority went through for this bill. We had one markup in one committee even though we had multiple committees, including the House Financial Services Committee. That is how big this bill is. It had multiple committees of jurisdiction that were supposed to have markups on this, and they did not go through that full process.

This bill, at the end of the day, seeks to limit free speech. It uses taxpayer dollars to fund partisan campaign efforts, and mandates outcomes designed to get more Democrats into power.

This is not about fairness. It is just the opposite. Let's vote against this rule, and let's vote down this bad bill.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 93.

personal explanation

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the former chairman and the ranking member for bringing this package today, and the bipartisan work that we are advocating for here on the House floor.

I rise in support of this important bill for two reasons, two reasons directly related to western North Carolina, where I am honored to represent.

First, it has a permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This is a very important program that uses offshore energy

resources to fund protected lands that are of national importance: our rivers, our scenic byways, our lakes. Clean water in western North Carolina, access to the great outdoors has been a great driver of our economy, and LWCF has helped fund the preservation and protection of those areas.

Second, I stand in support of this important bill because it reauthorizes the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.

These two pieces of legislation, the LWCF reauthorization, and the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, are two items that I have sponsored independently of this package, and I am glad they are a part of this resolution before us.

The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area ensures the preservation of the unique cultural history of western North Carolina and provides access to our land surrounding the Blue Ridge Parkway.

So those two important areas are just a small part of this larger package that has been hammered out in a bipartisan way. I commit it to my colleagues, and I ask for a ``yea'' vote.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the 800,000 Federal employees impacted by the partial government shutdown and express my sincere agreement that banks and Federal regulators should do the compassionate and the sensible thing, to support customers in need of assistance.

Mr. Speaker, whether it was a missed credit card payment or an unexpected medical expense, many furloughed Federal employees have faced economic hardships over the last 35 days, through no fault of their own. A string of dead-end and dead-on-arrival bills and nonstarter negotiations thrust hardworking Federal employees into the middle of a political fight, all over commonsense border security measures that I support, and that many Democrats have supported previously.

Our only course of action at that time and now is to try and provide some relief to those who are in need, and most importantly, find a solution to ensure that the government doesn't shut down again on February 15. But those are larger political issues, and we are trying to be of substance as to what we can do to be of assistance to those who were affected by the government shutdown within our committee of jurisdiction, the Financial Services Committee.

I appreciate Chairwoman Waters' efforts to provide support for hardworking Federal employees by introducing this resolution and encouraging banks to assist their customers in need.

Thankfully, many financial institutions are already doing exactly what is suggested in this resolution, and that, as Chairwoman Waters said in her statement, is at the urging of Members of Congress, but also their understanding of the needs in their communities, like waiving late fees for furloughed employees, or the other over 100 banks that took it upon themselves for loan modifications and payment deadline extension, payroll advances, low-rate and zero-rate loans, as well as other accommodations, and those are wonderful things, positive things.

Unfortunately, we now find ourselves in a situation where the financial regulatory regime has left banks trying their best under a cloud of uncertainty on how regulators will react to their efforts during the government shutdown.

While I agree with my colleague across the aisle that we should encourage banks to work more proactively with customers affected in the shutdown, we must also encourage our financial regulators to provide clarity to our financial institutions that they are permitted to provide that type of relief.

I have no doubt this issue will be a part of a larger conversation I hope that we can have on the Financial Services Committee about what regulators are doing to help individual taxpayers and also what they are doing that hurts the American people as well.

Mr. Speaker, I think this is a good bill that I encourage my colleagues to support.

I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.

Reclaiming my time, I did not write the legislation. The intention here is the encouragement of Federal regulators to take a new look. I think that is the broad understanding of what this resolution gets to. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mooney).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from West Virginia.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this House resolution. I think this resolution truly expresses the sense of Congress that we should provide relief that, voluntarily, over 100 financial institutions have already committed to do publicly over the course of the shutdown. But I think it shows that we are a compassionate group of folks here in the House of Representatives and that we want to be sensible in every way possible, even in the midst of these major political fights that do occur from time to time, perhaps, here on this House floor.

Those disagreements notwithstanding, what we want to do is work in a proactive way and in a bipartisan way to convey to the public that there are sensible things that we are about, and that Republicans and Democrats still can get things done here on the House floor, here doing the people's business and the people's work.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support Chairwoman Waters' resolution here today, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 624, the Promoting Transparent Standards for Corporate Insiders Act.

This bipartisan legislation is critical for protecting mom-and-pop investors from the effects of insider trading while ensuring that the rules are clear, fair, and not unduly burdensome.

I want to first thank Chairwoman Waters for her sponsorship of this bill and for writing this legislation. I am glad to join her in a meaningful effort to help the Securities and Exchange Commission better understanding illicit trading, and I look forward to working with her in many more bipartisan efforts and her leadership on the Financial Services Committee.

Mr. Speaker, preventing and cracking down on fraud and abuse within our financial system, such as illegal insider trading, is apolitical and should be.

When a corporate insider breaks the rules on trading and profits from trading on insider information, that illegal activity hurts everyday investors who diligently put their hard-earned money away for retirement.

To be clear, most corporate insiders faithfully follow the insider trading guidelines under Rule 10b5-1. I know that is not an everyday quoted thing, but those folks who are abiding by the law are complying with this very complex but important rule from the Securities and Exchange Commission. That allows for them to purchase and sell securities without concern for insider trading liability.

These law-abiding corporate insiders should not be punished or barred from trading just because of the bad actors who succumbed to greed and those who chose to illegally trade on insider information.

When properly adhered to, 10b5-1 insider trading rules are fair tools for allowing folks to help pay for down payments on a home or help pay for their kids' college education or other normal financial transactions.

Moreover, allowing folks to purchase and sell securities at predetermined times on a scheduled basis under that rule ensures market stability and decreases the risk of volatility by preventing fraudulent behavior, such as pump-and-dump schemes that sometimes occur in the financial markets.

By directing the Securities and Exchange Commission to study whether Rule 10b5-1 should be amended and to consider how any amendments to the rule would clarify and enhance existing prohibitions against insider trading, this legislation achieves a bipartisan goal of protecting mom- and-pop investors while encouraging economic growth.

And, again, I want to thank Chairwoman Waters for her leadership. I applaud her willingness to work in a bipartisan way and in this important bipartisan manner that she is approaching the Financial Services Committee's jurisdiction we both care so much about. That bipartisan activity should help improve Federal oversight and protect American investors as well as enhance economic growth.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 624, and I reserve the balance of my time

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gooden), a new Member of this body and a new member of the Financial Services Committee.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, now, being in the minority and the majority, we are both learning something in the organization of control and debate on the House floor. Chairwoman Waters has been the ranking member of the committee previously to coming to the chair. Now I have to ask her for time, which is a different process.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to close on this important bill, the first bill from the Financial Services Committee for this Congress. It is a bill written by Chairwoman Waters and cosponsored by me as the ranking member.

This is a piece of legislation that we had discussed and worked through last Congress, and she was the lead sponsor and I was the cosponsor of it last Congress, and I held to my word and she has held to her word.

This is proof that we can have bipartisan achievement that is of substance, that is real, that is meaningful, and we can do it representing vastly different districts, having different world views, having our disagreements that we have stated publicly and privately to one another, but still being willing to work through those disagreements to hammer out something that is good for the investor, for the consumer, to make sure that we have important consumer protections while also having vibrant markets of exchange so that we can lift folks out of poverty, to actually make sure people are safe for retirement.

There are wonderful opportunities for us to legislate in a bipartisan way. This is proof of what potential we have in the Financial Services jurisdiction.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairwoman Waters for her efforts here. I urge my colleagues to support and vote for this important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank once again Chairwoman Waters for her leadership, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 502, the FIND Trafficking Act.

Consider this: In 2017 alone, more than 47,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. Additionally, it is estimated that the total number of human trafficking victims in the U.S. reached into the hundreds of thousands.

These shocking numbers point to a deep, systemic issue happening right in our backyards, where bad actors use any means necessary--even financial products--in order to lure people into horrible situations. One of the ways they do this is by using virtual currencies to evade the oversight of institutions, like government agencies.

While virtual currencies may possess a great opportunity for society, we don't quite know the extent of their utility in human trafficking.

Mr. Speaker, these virtual currencies are one of the most versatile payment options available today, yet they are among the least understood. We need to do more work in order to understand their utility and their opportunity.

It is precisely this lack of understanding that risks making virtual currencies ripe for exploitation by these bad actors engaged in human trafficking and the sale of illicit drugs. In its 2017 National Drug Assessment, the

Drug Enforcement Administration concluded that transnational criminal organizations are increasingly using virtual currencies for illicit activities, including drug trafficking. This includes illicit transactions with China, as well as the sale and purchase of narcotics, including those involved in our country's opioid epidemic.

This bipartisan legislation before us is an instrumental first step toward analyzing how virtual currencies and online marketplaces are used to buy, sell, or facilitate the financing of goods and services associated with human and drug trafficking.

By directing the Government Accountability Office to study how virtual currencies are linked to the supply chain of drugs and human trafficking, this bill will give lawmakers insight in how to sever that link. We need to know how virtual currencies are being used; the scope of their use; and, most importantly, how our Federal and State agencies must respond, and can respond, to impede their use for illicit activities.

Let me add, Mr. Speaker, that nothing in this legislation is meant to demonize the use or the development of virtual currencies for legitimate economic activity. As my colleagues know, there are few Members more committed than I am to how new technologies can facilitate commerce and growth. But in order for such technologies to flourish, we need a rigorous discussion on the risks in enabling new routes for illicit finance.

We need to understand that as policymakers. This bill is important because it enables us to have the measurement tools necessary for us to smartly legislate in this area. Mainstream acceptance of innovation depends on mainstream forms of accountability, and this bill does just that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Vargas) for his sponsorship of the bill. I thank my vice ranking member on the Financial Services Committee, my second in command on the Financial Services Committee, Mrs. Wagner of Missouri, for her sponsorship and leadership on this important issue of human trafficking that she is so very committed to and so smart on legislating around. I thank them both for setting the right tone for our committee jurisdiction, smart legislating, and reaching across the aisle. I know they will continue to lead the fight against trafficking as Members of the House Financial Services Committee this Congress, as they have in previous years as well.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner), the vice ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, who will be the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion on the Financial Services Committee as well.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Riggleman), a new Member of Congress from Afton, Virginia, and a new member of the Financial Services Committee.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I think it is important that Congress understand. The objective of this bill is to understand the contours of human trafficking that occur here in the United States, and to understand the contours of how drugs are financed. It is incumbent that we have the proper data and the public have the proper data so we can understand how to respond.

That is what this measure is about, the plight of those human- trafficking victims, and the plight of those who are suffering the impairments and the devastating consequences that opioids have brought in our society. We know those in our community.

What we have to understand is the deeper issues around the movement of money, which is what the Financial Services Committee can do. It doesn't fix the full problem, and we should focus on fixing the larger issues around human trafficking and drug overdoses, and the horrible effects of illicit drugs on our society.

But what we can do here is understand the contour so we can cut off that siphon of money that is fueling this epidemic in our communities all across America.

I want to thank Mr. Vargas and Mrs. Wagner, who just departed, for their work on this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 56, the Financial Technology Protection Act.

Our number one priority is to ensure the safety of the American people, especially from terrorists and terror organizations seeking to take away the freedoms we hold dear. This bipartisan legislation is a prime example of how we can reach across the aisle and find common ground in the fight against terrorism as well as illicit finance.

H.R. 56 establishes an Independent Financial Technology Task Force, which will improve coordination between the private and public sectors in order to research and develop tools to combat terrorism and the illicit use of financial technologies, including digital currencies.

Recent studies have found evidence that terrorists, especially lone- wolf actors, use digital currencies. A public-private task force as established through this legislation can inform Congress on the legislative and regulatory steps needed to stop these bad actors.

Furthermore, this bipartisan bill would incentivize individuals to come forward with knowledge of possible terrorist and illicit financing involving digital currencies by offering monetary rewards for information that leads to successful convictions. A reward program is just the kind of innovation in policymaking that we need to stay a step ahead of terrorists.

Last Congress, the Treasury Department informed our committee that using such unconventional tools could be critical in generating useful intelligence, and I applaud Mr. Budd and Mr. Lynch for thinking creatively in this process and listening to testimony and taking that and putting that in legislative form.

The threat of illicit use of digital currencies is evolving, and policymakers must work together to find best practices and solutions. That is why this bipartisan bill is so important.

Furthermore, I would add that digital currencies have enormous potential benefits. We want to understand those benefits, but we also want to understand those costs involved, as policymakers. We want to be smart about it. I think it is useful and helpful for us to begin with understanding how we stamp out bad actors and their use of digital currencies before we move into that next set of conversation about how we properly enhance their utility in our society.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank, again, my colleague from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) for his work here and my colleague from North Carolina, the great north State, Mr. Budd, first for their relationship on this important policymaking, and also their willingness to work across the aisle in order to get good legislation that is ensuring the safety of the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 56 as a commonsense, forward-looking approach to combating terrorism, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd), who is from the great metropolis of Advance in Davie County and who is a leader in fintech.

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

Mr. Speaker, three for three--the House Financial Services Committee comes out with the first three bills, and they are bipartisan. I would hope the House would adopt them tonight.

I think this is a great first step in this long road of legislating that I think we can be about in the Financial Services Committee. The chairwoman has shown that will, that interest, that inclination to work together where we can, where we can achieve consensus across the aisle.

I mean that as a compliment. In the politics of today, when you are working across the aisle, it seems as though that is dealt as an insult in some factions.

I know that Chairwoman Waters has worked intently to get to the position of chairing this committee, for a little longer than I have to be the ranking member of the committee; but, as she will show me on opening day of the House Financial Services Committee, she has the gavel and I do not, but where we can work together, I am honored to be able to do so.

I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Budd, for working so intently on financial innovation and on fintech as well as cryptocurrencies, which are of great interest to him, and I appreciate Mr. Lynch being engaged in this subject matter as well.

I look forward to more bipartisan legislating coming out of this committee as well as a number of more interesting activities that I am sure will be a part of this.

I am now informed that we do have one Member to close. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Riggleman), a new Member who has a great deal of experience in national security.

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill is plain and simple. It is a political stunt. And this is a sad offering 1 week into a new majority.

These bills are dead on arrival, as the ranking member, my friend Tom Graves, said, when they arrive in the Senate. The Senate majority leader has already said this. It is dead on arrival. Nor will it be signed into law by the President, who has already said he would veto it.

Furthermore, these bills have been stripped of House priorities that were in this bill reported out of Tom Graves' subcommittee last Congress. And they are not going to accomplish our number one goal, which is reopening the government and addressing the critical border security needs of our country.

House Republicans did our job last year by sending this and several other appropriations bills to the Senate that would have been signed into law and ultimately avoided a shutdown if our friends across the aisle had chosen substance over politics.

But this a greater point. What we should be focusing on, rather than this shell bill that is a political stunt, is what is not in this bill.

Now, there are a couple things that we passed last Congress in a bipartisan way that the incoming chair of the Financial Services Committee and I, as ranking member on the Financial Services Committee, both voted for.

We had the JOBS Act 3.0, which passed this House last Congress with 406 ``yes'' votes and 4 dissenting votes. Why is that not included in this bill? It should be included in this bill. It is a high priority.

Why don't we see more bills helping those who are underbanked in this country? Those who are living on the margins? Those who are on the edge? Why can't we get them included? Why can't we have financial inclusion as a part of this bill? It does not address them, nor does it help people who live in rural communities who don't have a single bank branch in their county.

So we have banking deserts in this country that separate people from access to basic financial services products. We need to fix that problem. The bill here before us doesn't address that issue either. Why aren't we doing more to help small businesses find the capital that they need?

Businesses are starved for additional risk capital so they can grow, create jobs, help their community, raise wages. But instead of talking about ways we can help people, this bill does none of that. It is a political stunt. We should be focused on helping people and helping those who are on the margins through financial inclusion.

Let's get back to the priorities that the American people sent us here to take care of. Let's vote down this bill, and let's vote ``yes'' on something that can clear the Senate and get to the President's desk and be signed into law.

I look forward to working with my colleagues across the aisle in a constructive way in the coming months to do just that. But in the meantime, this is just a second-week charade, not essential to what we should be focused on here in the House of Representatives. We should be less focused on political optics and more about the reality of how we help everyday working Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and could not make it to votes.

Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 436, 437; YEA on Roll Call No. 438, 439; YEA on Roll Call No. 440, 441; YEA on Roll Call No. 442, 443; and YEA on Roll Call No. 444, 445.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that, during further proceedings today in the House, the Chair be authorized to reduce to 2 minutes the minimum time for electronic voting on any question that otherwise could be subjected to 5-minute voting under clause 8 or 9 of rule XX.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, this is the first time, as a Member, I have given a speech like this. I have to say, in this body, Members understand that an essential ingredient for a successful Member of Congress and for this institution to function is our staff.

With good, talented staff, Members can be successful, the legislative process can work, and we can serve our country.

We have many faithful public servants here in the House of Representatives, and I rise today to recognize one of them.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to recognize my chief of staff of 12 years, Parker Hamilton Poling. She has served this House of Representatives in many different capacities, but for the last 12 years, she has been my personal office chief and my leadership office chief.

She sits behind me today, and she is easily embarrassed. But if she looks at the gallery, her husband, Todd, and her two beautiful daughters, Barrett and Eliza, are here to recognize her service and the hard work she has put in for this country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today because my chief of staff, Parker, has been an essential ingredient to my success as a Member of Congress, to serving the people of North Carolina's 10th District as a Member of Congress, to being a successful member of the House Financial Services Committee.

She has been an essential ingredient for House Republicans on getting the key votes over the last 4\1/2\ years for our agenda. She has worked tirelessly to count the votes on the House floor to get our agenda passed. She has worked tirelessly to build relationships with other chiefs of staff and Members, as well as other staff, to further this operation in the House of Representatives.

Eight years ago, Parker got a group of female chiefs of staff, Republican chiefs of staff, who were mothers together and said: We need to actually have an organization so we help each other and coach each other along the way through mentoring.

She has developed that into a very solid group that exchanges information and helps each other.

What I want to say here on the House floor and publicly is that my success in the last 12 years is as a direct result of Parker's work.

I met her 22 years ago through an organization called College Republicans. We both cut our teeth in the rough and tumble of that political operation. I was a student at NC State, and she was a student at Brown University. She grew up in upstate New York and took this sort of different background and perspective, and I realized her ingenuity, her creativity, her strength, and her passion for the cause. And I learned so much from her.

Then, 10 years after that, as a Member of Congress, I invited her in, between her law school classes. She thought I was trying to ask for free legal advice. She had, with coaching from her husband, a really set answer on how she could not, because she had not passed the bar yet, give me legal advice, much less free legal advice.

She came in, sat down. She put her book bag down, wearing a pair of jeans. I said: Well, I would like to hire you as my chief of staff. And she says: I didn't interview for it, and I am not sure I want it.

After she had a conversation with her husband, and some, you know, negotiation, she became my chief of staff, and my world as a Member of Congress changed much for the better.

But I am not the only one that Parker has had an impact on as a Member of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, and I thank Kevin and Richard for their kind comments regarding the counsel they have received from Parker and the relationship they have with her.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I am honored to recognize Parker's favorite Member of Congress, notwithstanding that that includes the majority leader and my friend, Mr. Hudson, and I on that list. We may be friends with Parker, and she may like and respect us, but her favorite Member of Congress is Bruce Poliquin from Maine.

Mr. Speaker, if I may close. I want to thank Congressmen Poliquin and Hudson, and the majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, for their kind comments. I just want to close with that.

Parker grew up in upstate New York but has done a fantastic job for the last 12 years working for the people of North Carolina's 10th District. She is a New Yorker but gets the South.

She is a Republican who has friends across the aisle. She is a Republican through and through and committed to our party, our ideology, and the work that we are trying to achieve. While she could be a partisan in her role here counting votes for Republicans, she never lost sight of those relationships across the aisle that could make this place work.

While I will miss her counsel on a daily basis, while I will miss her words of encouragement and also the tough words when you need them, when Members need them--and I have certainly needed them over the last decade--I am grateful for her service. I am grateful for what she has done for this institution, for me, and for the countless staff that she has mentored along the way. I wish her well.

I say to her two daughters watching that they have a fantastic example in their mother. While she may be tough with us at work, I know she cares about them and loves them dearly.

The life that Parker and Todd have built together is a great example of a loving family, while also both being professionals who have quite challenging careers.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the indulgence of my colleagues and the kind comments for Parker, and I encourage folks to wish her well in her new endeavors.