Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

I, too, stand in strong support of this legislation.

A recent poll out by Ernst & Young showed that millennials are starting businesses at a rate that is only one-third of prior generations. When asked why they are not starting businesses, those millennials responded that they have insufficient financial means in order to start businesses, despite a deep desire and will to start businesses. Over 78 percent said that they wanted to start a small business eventually, but they had insufficient means to do so. This bill starts to rectify that problem.

Those millennials could go to expensive and fancy investment bankers, but that is prohibitively expensive. Who they are going to turn to are their friends and family, those who most believe not only in the product, but in themselves.

I want to see us enable small businesses to get started back home. That is what I continue to hear as I go door to door in the district and as I talk to people. They want to be in control of their financial future. They want to have all of the opportunities that were afforded to their parents and their grandparents.

This bill begins to push back against a regulatory environment that has for too long smothered opportunity in Indiana in favor of more opportunity in D.C. We must rectify that. This legislation goes a long way towards that.

I am supportive of the legislation, supportive of small businesses back home, and supportive of the many Hoosiers who want to start small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, rise in strong support of this legislation.

Every single week, I make phone calls to Hoosiers back home, and I hear every night on those phone calls how hard they are working to build a better and brighter future for themselves, for their families, and for their children; but they understand that, in order to have a brighter, better future, they must have a future. I hear on the phone every single night how concerned they are that there won't be a future with all that they see, all that they read, all that they hear about these threats from North Korea.

We in Congress have heard their pleas to do something, that enough is enough, that threats against Guam, that ICBMs flying off the Peninsula, that nuclear tests, that the time has come for decisive action, and decisive action is what we are taking here.

The toughest financial sanctions ever put in place, that is what this bill does, and that is what we need to put in place to ensure that we demand real change from North Korea, that we demand that they stop threatening Americans and the American way of life.

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation, support the work that is being done to confront this challenge once and for all, and this bill demands the question: Will you do business with the United States or will you do business with North Korea?

Mr. Speaker, I am excited to stand up in support of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of legislation that an overwhelming number of Americans--75 percent, in fact--not only support but demand of this body. The issue is term limits. The time is now.

It has become more and more transparent to Hoosiers back home that this city, and even sometimes this building, no longer reflects the ideals, the morals, and the values that they share in their communities. The people demanded representation that truly represents their interests. They are tired of elected officials being seduced by the trappings of their office, forgetting the reason they were sent to this hallowed Chamber. Ultimately, the American people have seen that many Members vote in consideration of sometimes interests that are divergent from theirs back home.

Since I first entered public life, I have been a vocal proponent of term limits. I believe that in order for this body to truly serve the people back home, the hardworking Hoosiers every day trying to make ends meet, that they need to be responsive to those people, they need to listen to those people, and, ultimately, they need to relate to those people.

Yet, the American people are not the only ones calling for term limits. As we all can remember, President Trump crisscrossed this great Nation, sharing his vision on how he could make America great again. He agreed with the chorus of American voices that were calling for term limit legislation for the United States Congress. I support President Trump's agenda in term limits.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard the voices of Hoosiers back home who desperately wish to see this legislation passed, who desperately want to see their Representatives representing their interests and their values. That is why, as one of my first actions as a Member of this body, I wrote legislation that would sponsor a constitutional amendment levying term limits on Members of Congress.

Additionally, I have cosponsored every piece of term limits legislation that reflects actual term limits that is available in this body.

Furthermore, I so strongly believe in this issue that I went door to door during the course of my campaign handing out term limits pledges that I would sign personally at the over 15,000 doors that I have knocked on during the course of my elected official office. I have continued to sign those term limits, talking to each one about how we can ensure that their interests and their values are fully represented here.

Now, the positions that we hold here in this Chamber are not bequeathed to us by status, by lineage, or by heritage, but, rather, the positions we hold--every single one of us--are based on the ideas that we presented to the American public and based on the values that the American public said they wanted represented.

I want to make sure that we continue year in and year out to be responsive to those ideas and to be responsive to those values. Too frequently, I hear in my district that they feel like Washington, D.C., has values that are inconsistent with theirs. That the toxic environment they sometimes believe that exists in Washington, D.C., hasn't gotten them the results that they have demanded election after election.

Now, I am an old business guy, a manufacturing guy by trade, so I always think about how the process of creating policy could be better, not just fixing the policies at the end of the line, because no one would run a manufacturing business where you have a process and then you just fix the widgets at the end of the line. But, instead, they would focus on how we manufacture policy in a better way.

The American people and Hoosiers back home have said how they think we could manufacture policy in a better way. They have said that they want to see terms limits legislation passed so that the manufacturers of policy will reflect their values, will reflect their concerns, and will reflect what they live, breathe, and feel every single day.

What I hear, when I go back home and travel my district every single weekend, is that Washington, D.C., has become flooded with self- interests--self-interests that drive the boat forward instead of American interests propelling us forward into better and better policy.

I think the quickest way to correct that failure here in D.C. is to consider and pass term limits. When 74 percent of Americans agree--that is not 74 percent of one side of the aisle or 74 percent of the other side of the aisle, but that is 74 percent of Americans agree on something--then I think in a democracy that something should get done.

The Framers of our Constitution did not intend for Members of this body to remain seated for 20, 30, 40, or even 50 years, but rather they fundamentally believe that government should be designed, one of the people and for the people, to experience regular turnover. Ultimately, the greatness of this country has always rooted in the American people themselves, and I want to get more of those American people up here serving in elected office.

Mr. Speaker, I spent the last 30 days traveling Indiana's best district--that is the Ninth District--and I had many memorable conversations with many Hoosiers. But one thing came through, and that was we need to work together right here in D.C. in order to get better outcomes for our businesses back home.

Nowhere is this better exemplified than this bill, the Improving Access to Capital Act. It is about getting small businesses engaged and empowered with the capital that they need in order to grow, in order to hire, in order to invest. That is exactly what we want them to do.

And on the second point, it is exciting to me to be able to reach across the aisle and work with Representative Sinema, who has been nothing but great in her leadership in her fervent desire to help small businesses all the way across this country.

The Improving Access to Capital Act sounds like it might be something esoteric, and sounds like it might be something that isn't immediately practical to the small businesses across the Ninth District and across this country, but, in fact, it is something that they can use tomorrow. This creates another avenue for small businesses across the country to be able to raise the money that they need in order to innovate, in order to grow, in order to expand, in order to hire more Americans. This is just simply another arrow in the quiver for them to be able to grow and develop.

Small businesses account for the bulk of hiring across this country, they account for the bulk of innovation across this country, and we need to be doing everything we can to continue to promote them. That is exactly what Representative Sinema and I have done with this particular legislation, is work hard to develop a bipartisan solution, one that was supported unanimously out of the Financial Services Committee in order to provide those companies with more options and more opportunities to be able to grow.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation and let's get America back to work again.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Arizona for yielding to me. I promise to be brief.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about something that Hoosiers back home are talking to me about every single day, and that is to rise to express my support for those struggling against burdensome and costly regulations, those costly regulations that are hurting Hoosier businesses from being able to get their products to market, from ultimately being able to grow their enterprises, and from ultimately being able to hire more Hoosiers.

When Democrats passed the Dodd-Frank Act, they promised a success for Main Street. Instead, Dodd-Frank has become a nightmare for businesses on Main Street.

Specifically, while I was back home just a few weeks ago, I met with two businesses working hard to do right by their customers and employees but confounded by section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Section 1502 requires businesses to disclose due diligence on the source and chain of custody of ``conflict minerals,'' as well as hire a third party to honor their due diligence and subsequently submit a report to the SEC on those measures. According to its Democratic authors, this provision would only affect the biggest of companies, but those companies have to bring in all of their suppliers, all of their vendors in order to comply, which affects many small businesses across Indiana's Ninth District.

One of those firms is Best Home Furnishings in Paoli. They manufacture quality furniture across Indiana, and I was astounded to learn the lengths they must go through in order to comply with this regulation. They travel far abroad to verify the wood is conflict-free. And even after all that time-consuming and very costly travel, they are left wondering, despite all of their best efforts, if they are making any impact on those areas that are far from their plants, far from their customers, and far from their employees.

Another such example is Key Electronics, a manufacturer that is working on electronics in Indiana to get through opioid withdrawals for many Hoosiers who are afflicted by this scourge on our communities. It is a laudable goal, but they are hamstrung by the thousands and thousands of dollars they pay to ensure the customers that they work with ultimately get this third-party audit on them and all of their vendors. This challenging business with very thin margins is being limited in what they can invest in innovative, desperately needed therapy for those addicted to opioids.

For every dollar and every moment that a businessowner has to spend complying with this outrageous and unnecessary regulation, those are minutes and dollars that are not directed towards job creation, not directed towards investing in America's future,

and not directed towards fulfilling their and, ultimately, their employees' dreams.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues in this Congress to bring an end to the excessive job-killing regulations that stand between Hoosiers and their entrepreneurial dreams.

Give Americans Back Their Healthcare System

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about how regulations and restrictions in healthcare space are preventing new innovations from being able to deliver better care to Hoosiers back home.

I recently met with a local business just outside of my district, Mainstreet Health Investments, who is working hard to develop new rapid recovery centers that are truly better in matching patients' needs with services provided.

For example, when a patient has knee surgery, they only need a hospital for a very limited window during their period of acute care. They need that hospital for such immediate recovery, but, hours after that, they can be transferred to a different recovery center, one that better matches their needs as a patient, enabling them to recover much more quickly and enabling us all to save significant dollars by matching that care with the needs that they have.

Frankly, I have been amazed at the quality of these rapid recovery centers, where the patient is truly focused on, in a holistic manner, such that they can develop and have physical therapy right there in that location. It is innovations just like these rapid recovery centers that they are building that will help deliver better cures to more Americans.

This is how we make a healthcare system that is not only more affordable, not only more accessible, but also better for patients in the long run. I want it to be just as effective, in addition to affordable and accessible.

What stands in the way? What is standing in their way is certainly government bureaucracy, a government that is retarding a level of innovation, retarding their ability to grow and build more of these facilities across the country despite the demonstrated need and the demonstrated benefit to those patients.

So I wanted to talk about those regulations and how they stand in the way of Americans and Hoosiers who are trying to get ahead, trying to get their companies get ahead, trying to help their fellow employees get ahead, and, ultimately, that will, together, help America get ahead.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

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

Mr. Chairman, I would like to commend the chairman of the Financial Services Committee for his hard work, and the entire Financial Services Committee for all the effort they have undertaken in today's debate of the Financial CHOICE Act.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of my amendment to the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017. This amendment would allow for certain closed-end funds to be considered well-known seasoned issuers.

Ultimately, the proposed amendment is built upon the foundation of lowering costs and increasing access for investors by allowing companies that meet certain criteria to have the same equivalence as bigger companies that also have access to capital markets by making them available to those fast lanes that allow them to issue shares.

In 2005, the SEC put in place significant reforms that sought to modernize registration, communication, and offering processes for traditional operating companies. These reforms were designed to streamline the registration process, especially those for large reporting issuers or well-known seasoned issuers. Unfortunately, the SEC excluded registered closed-end funds from those reforms.

A closed-end fund is nothing more than a pooled investment fund with a fixed number of shares that is structured, listed, and traded just like a stock on the stock exchange. Closed-end funds are crucial to retirement

savings and investment vehicles that many retail investors use. About 3 million mom-and-pop investors rely on closed-end funds to meet their investment needs. These funds serve as a long-term source of capital, which, in turn, promotes job creation--something we can all agree needs to happen more in this country.

Closed-end funds, though, are currently under attack by unfair onerous filing and offering regulations. This commonsense amendment would provide parity for these certain closed-end funds by streamlining their registration process, offering and communications processes that are currently available to other publicly traded companies. This unfair exclusion of closed-end funds has created an unlevel playing field.

Giving qualifying closed-end funds the ability to enjoy well-known seasoned issuer status would help those funds better evaluate and assess the market for their offerings and would enable them to more quickly access capital markets. Those closed-end funds, an important vehicle for retail investors, would allow them to get capital to more job creators.

There has been a steady decline in the number of closed-end funds and the number of new closed-end funds offerings because of this unlevel playing field. Since 2007, the number of closed-end funds has dropped by 20 percent.

In 2007, there were 42 new closed-end fund issuances; in 2016, there were only 8. That is an 81 percent decline.

What we can all agree on is that Americans need access to capital. They need access to the capital markets that will provide them the capital to thrive as they have created new products. Retail investors also need access to those investments in order to meet their particular needs.

These closed-end funds should not have been hamstrung in their ability to access the advantages afforded to operating companies. It is time we provide parity in this marketplace by leveling the playing field.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time I have left?

Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga), the subcommittee chair.

Mr. Chair, I would just build on that to say that every WKSI goes through the SEC review and comment period.

What we are doing here is removing the duplicative SEC review and comment period, which only serves to delay capital getting out to businesses, which only serves to add cost to retail investors that use these pools.

So I support the amendment, and I support the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today because, after coming back from Indiana for the last 8 days, I wanted to report what I saw.

What I saw was too much hopelessness, too much despair, in the eyes of too many hardworking Hoosiers, who no longer feel that they have control of their financial future, who no longer feel that they can participate in the American Dream, and who no longer feel that they can start small businesses of their own. But I told them every single day when I was back home this past week what we are doing to change that to roll back the provisions of Dodd-Frank that have put undue burdens on lenders trying to help small businesses across Indiana's Ninth District, and across this country, grow and get started; to help hardworking Hoosiers be able to start small businesses so they have control over their families' future again; to help individuals be able to get jobs at growing enterprises because they have access to capital.

Over the past few years, loan growth has stagnated. In the past 100 years, coming out of recessions, we have typically seen a loan growth of 63 percent, but it has only been 18 percent. It is the difference between those two that

has curtailed the futures of many hardworking Americans. I want to make sure we give that back to them. That is why I am voting in support of the CHOICE Act, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Madam Speaker, I also rise in support of H.R. 1219. I absolutely believe that the time has come for us to modernize how capital gets to our small businesses.

Prior to Congress, I have a history in business, so I fundamentally understand that having a better mousetrap is not enough. Small businesses need capital, need access to more capital in order to grow and get their innovations out to market. They also need access to these sophisticated, accredited investors so that they can get the advice that they need in order to get those better mousetraps out to the people who need them, want to buy them, and want to use them to better their lives.

Fundamentally, everybody can agree that we want Americans to have more economic opportunity, and many Americans find that economic opportunity by starting small businesses or by being a part of small businesses, by investing in small businesses, by working for and with small businesses.

Whether it is a startup in New Albany, Indiana, or a small company growing in Franklin, Indiana, these businesses need access to capital to realize the dreams of their founders, the dreams of their investors, and the dreams of their employees.

Quite simply, H.R. 1219 provides them with the access to more accredited investors, enabling them and empowering them to bring their innovations to market. I am excited to be a cosponsor of this important legislation, and I thank all of my colleagues in the Financial Services Committee, as well as, hopefully, on the floor later today, for their support of this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the actions of Clark County, Indiana, Sheriff's Deputy Wes Harper.

On the evening of February 21, Deputy Harper was dispatched to a call for an unconscious person. While en route, Deputy Harper's dispatcher advised him that this individual was, in fact, a 9-month-old child, and it was possible that the child had drowned.

Wasting no time, Deputy Harper arrived on scene, scooped the infant up into his arms, and dove back into the patrol vehicle with an ambulance still minutes away. As his fellow officer drove to Kosair Children's Hospital, Deputy Harper provided CPR to the unconscious infant. As they pulled into

the hospital, the infant regained consciousness and began to breathe on its own. The infant was released from the hospital the following day.

When asked about how this call had affected his mindset for the rest of his shift, Deputy Harper was, as he always is, humble and expressed how glad and thankful he was that the young child would be all right.

Deputy Wes Harper's quick thinking and selfless action speak volumes of the training of Clark County's first responders, as well as their devotion to Hoosiers all the way across Clark County. His actions are a prime example of the high standards and traditions of law enforcement officers everywhere across this country.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Indiana's Ninth District, I would like to express our gratitude to Clark County Sheriff's Deputy Wes Harper for his lifesaving actions.

Section 4:

``The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule and the underlying REINS Act because I was sent to Congress to help hardworking Hoosiers create jobs, keep jobs, and raise wages. As a small-business owner myself, I understand how difficult it is to build a business in today's economy, and I want the Hoosiers of Indiana's Ninth Congressional District to have control over their futures without fear of unaccountable government bureaucrats with political agendas creating regulations to restrict their pursuit of success.

I believe the REINS Act will ensure the constituents in Indiana's Ninth District will not only have a voice, but also a choice in the laws that govern this great Nation. Hardworking Hoosiers are shining examples of what Americans can do with the freedom to make their own economic decisions, and I don't want unelected bureaucrats in Washington impeding the job-creating growth of Indiana's and America's businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the rule and vote ``yes'' on the underlying bill.