In what may be his final act as Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Republican from Texas, Jeb Hensarling is urging passage of a new bill he is sponsoring.
Speaking from the floor of the House of Representatives, Hensarling urged the Senate to pass the JOBS & Investor Confidence Act of 2018.
The bill passed the House earlier in 2018 by an overwhelming amount, 406-4.
“Mr. Speaker, thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, thanks to the leadership of Speaker Paul Ryan, thanks to the leadership of Chairman Kevin Brady, we have what for most Americans – not all, but for most Americans – is the greatest economy they have had in their entire lifetime. Unemployment at a 50-year low. Cutting across all socioeconomic groups. Small business optimism, consumer optimism, off the charts. We are seeing more people come back into the labor force, and this is all great news.
“But we cannot be blinded by the fact that as good as the economy is of today, we still have to concentrate on the economy of tomorrow. And we need to know, can we ensure that the seed capital is there? Can we make sure that our public policy nourishes the drivers of tomorrow’s economy, the next Amazons, the next Googles, the next Ubers; where are they going to come from?
“So unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, what we have seen is that as recently as 2016, as recently as 2016, startups in America have been cut in half. And oh, incidentally the securities regulatory burden has increased by over 50% in the last 10 years, and by over 80%. It now costs, Mr. Speaker, twice as much to go public today as it did 10 years ago.”
The bill would continue President Donald Trump’s philosophy of deregulation, and specifically, it would continue the philosophy of less regulations in securities.
The bill is geared toward start up so-called emerging growth companies, and it would make it easier for these companies to raise capital while private and also ease the burden to become publicly traded.
“In order to foster economic growth and to remain competitive with countries like China, the Bill, among other things, would “ease regulations on ‘angel investors’ and expand the definition of ‘accredited investors’ to make it easier for startup companies and small businesses to attract investments needed to grow and create jobs;” A summary of the bill states,“make it easier for companies to go public by extending on-ramp exemptions for emerging growth companies to give them more time to financially sustain costs and requirements associated with full compliance; ease securities regulations on IPOs to increase opportunities for everyday investors; and cut red tape on asset managers so that Main Street investors don’t have to shoulder the costs of burdensome, unnecessary regulations.”
Of the two legislative chambers- the House of Representatives and the Senate- the Senate is far more deliberative.
That’s because the Senate rules allow for a filibuster which requires 60 of the 100 members to overcome.
The rule was designed to make the Senate the more deliberative body, and it was designed as a check on unlimited power of the majority.
Hensarling announced his retirement earlier this year and will not be in Congress in 2019.
