Providing for Consideration of H.R. Encouraging Employee Ownership Act of and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my friend from Ohio for the time today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 595 providing for consideration of H.R. 766, the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act and H.R. 1675, the Encouraging Employee Ownership Act of 2015. I strongly support this rule and the underlying measures.

H.R. 766 is a vitally important response to the administration's unacceptable executive overreach through Operation Choke Point. Operation Choke Point is another example of the administration's circumventing Congress. It is a disturbing abuse of authority to achieve politically motivated results, and the fine folks in northeast Georgia have made it clear that they won't stand for it.

Under the program, the Justice Department and Federal financial regulators have coerced banks and other financial institutions into cutting off relations with legal businesses simply because the administration does not like them.

The administration has painted a target on certain industries ranging from payment processors and short-term lenders to gun and ammunition stores to other small businesses. Again, it is the administration who has decided under the guise of customer protection to target entire industries simply because they deem them offensive.

This is not the way the government is supposed to operate, and it is time we prevent it from happening. I have had the opportunity to meet with some of the hardworking individuals in the industries affected, and it is clear action is needed.

A few weeks ago I met with several members of the electronic payments industry. This is an industry that promotes innovation, is rapidly growing, and plays a large and important role in Georgia's economy. To give you an idea of the enormity of this industry, the electronic consumer spending is projected to exceed $7.3 trillion in 2017. Yet the administration has been increasingly exerting pressure on this industry. They have increasingly tried to make the payments industry responsible in part for the misdeeds of bad actors in other segments of the industry.

Possibly even more disturbing, by forcing payments processors and banks to assume the role of regulators and police the industry for bad actors, known or unknown, the administration is promoting discrimination of legal businesses if they belong to a certain industry that isn't supported by the White House's political agenda. What has happened to fairness under the law? It is amazing to me. The administration is choking legitimate businesses off from needed capital and other resources by painting them with a scarlet letter, and they are burdening the payments industry by trying to use it as a means to carry out their own dirty work.

Another industry long targeted by Operation Choke Point is the gun industry. As Americans, we have a constitutional right to bear arms under the Second Amendment. Just this week I had the privilege of visiting Honor Defense, a gun manufacturer located in my hometown of Gainesville, Georgia. I talked with the owner, toured their facilities, and assembled actually one of their fine firearms.

These are hardworking American businesses operating legal businesses. The administration doesn't like this industry, though, so they have painted a target on their back. This is not right. We should be encouraging businessowners to grow their businesses and celebrating their success, not trying to force them out of business.

Stories of industries and legitimate small businesses that have been targeted are widespread. It is time for this to stop. The government has a legitimate role in protecting consumers and preventing fraud. But that necessary role should not be abused to achieve political goals. Financial regulators should not be able to target legal businesses by choking off their lines of credit and forcing them out of business.

Mr. Speaker, Operation Choke Point is misguided and politically motivated, and it is time we rein it in to protect small businesses and legitimate enterprises of hardworking Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying legislation.

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