Providing for Consideration of H.R. Sec Disclosure Effectiveness Testing Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Outsourcing Accountability Act of 2019
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 629 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 629
Resolved, That at any time after adoption of this resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1815) to require the Securities and Exchange Commission, when developing rules and regulations about disclosures to retail investors, to conduct investor testing, including a survey and interviews of retail investors, and for other purposes. The first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. General debate shall be confined to the bill and amendments specified in this section and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Financial Services. After general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. In lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Financial Services now printed in the bill, an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 116-34, modified by the amendment printed in part A of the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution, shall be considered as adopted in the House and in the Committee of the Whole. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as the original bill for the purpose of further amendment under the five-minute rule and shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. No further amendment to the bill, as amended, shall be in order except those printed in part B of the report of the Committee on Rules. Each such further amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a Member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. All points of order against such further amendments are waived. At the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee shall rise and report the bill, as amended, to the House with such further amendments as may have been adopted. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions.
Sec. 2. At any time after adoption of this resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3624) to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require the disclosure of the total number of domestic and foreign employees of certain public companies, and for other purposes. The first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Financial Services. After general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. It shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Financial Services now printed in the bill. The committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. All points of order against the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute are waived. No amendment to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed in part C of the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution. Each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a Member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. All points of order against such amendments are waived. At the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee shall rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as may have been adopted. Any Member may demand a separate vote in the House on any amendment adopted in the Committee of the Whole to the bill or to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Woodall), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 629, providing for consideration of H.R. 1815, the SEC Disclosure Effectiveness Testing Act. The rule provides for consideration of the legislation under a structured rule. It provides 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member on the Committee on Financial Services. It self-executes a manager's amendment that makes technical changes. It also makes in order four amendments, two Democratic and two Republican.
The rule also provides for consideration of H.R. 3624, the Outsourcing Accountability Act, under a structured rule. It provides 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member on the Committee on Financial Services. Finally, it makes in order two Republican amendments to H.R. 3624.
Mr. Speaker, the bills before us this week are consumer protection bills. Together, these bills make an effort to give everyday Americans access to clear, digestible information that will help them make informed investment decisions.
Mr. Speaker, inequality in this country is at a historic level. The experience right now is on par with the Great Depression and the gilded age. Without adjustments like the ones proposed in these bills, it can only get worse.
The most visible indicator of wealth inequality in America today may be the Forbes magazine list of the Nation's 400 richest Americans. In 2018, the three men at the top of this list--Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and investor Warren Buffett--held combined fortunes worth more than the total wealth of the poorest half of Americans. Three men had more wealth than 160 million Americans.
In 1989, the bottom 90 percent of the U.S. population held 33 percent of all wealth. By 2016, the bottom 90 percent of the population held only 23 percent of wealth. The wealth share of the top 1 percent increased from about 30 percent to approximately 40 percent over the same period of time. The tax bill just passed by the House last session doubles down on this troubling trend.
In 2019, a person in the bottom 10 percent gets a $50 tax cut, and a person in the top 1 percent gets a $34,000 tax cut. At the same time, millions of poor and middle-class people are expected to see their taxes either stay the same or actually increase in the long run.
Before us today, the Outsourcing Accountability Act makes one simple but meaningful change to existing reporting requirements. It would add a requirement for publicly traded companies to annually report foreign and domestic employment statistics to the SEC: Are your employees working in the United States or are they working overseas?
By publicly reporting this data that already is collected, companies are providing important information to their investors, consumers, and American workers, with no additional burden on their business.
As Heather Slavkin Corzo of the AFL-CIO said recently: ``What gets measured gets paid attention to by a company''--and, I would add, their investors.
As a former union member and a current member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, I think we in Congress should do everything we can to incentivize companies to invest in American workers and not to offshore their work.
This administration has done everything in its power, in my view, to give corporations even more power at the expense of their employees-- and these effects are being felt in households across this country.
Mr. Speaker, the other bill before us is the SEC Disclosure Effectiveness Testing Act. All we are asking for in this bill is to make sure that the data we are collecting for consumers is easy to understand so it can be used in the way it was intended.
Field testing allows average investors to pilot a form that the SEC is planning to use and be a focus group on whether it is user friendly and the results are understandable.
A recent form that was field-tested revealed that everyday Americans were ``deeply confused'' about the information the form was supposed to be communicating. In this specific instance, we are talking about how a company discloses any conflicts of interest it may have in providing investment advice.
Close to 7 million people in my home State of California and 55 million people nationwide, most of them low and middle income, don't have access to retirement benefits at work. We are talking about people who work for small businesses, whose companies just cannot afford the expense of financial products on the market.
In stark contrast, the financial sector takes around 25 percent of all corporate profits in the United States, represents 7 percent of the U.S. economy, and creates a mere 4 percent of jobs.
Mr. Speaker, this bill makes it easier for people who are trying to build a secure retirement for themselves and their families to understand the investment advice they are receiving and whether it is in their best interest. We have an obligation to our workers who sacrifice and provide so much for our country to give them something in return.
These two bills, taken together, help put consumers in the driver's seat. One requires information already collected by companies to be shared, and the other makes sure that consumers understand the information they are being given.
The only people who should be opposed to these bills are big businesses who may be afraid of what the public will learn about their practices.
The goal should be to give every American worker a secure retirement and protect consumers. Why wouldn't we want to take every step to get there?
I, first of all, express my respect and affection for him in the short time I have gotten to serve with him, and I agree with almost everything he said in his statement, with a possible exception of his prediction on the next election.
But other than that, I, too, yearn to be part of this institution, this marvelous institution that solves problems as a premium, where you take a liberal perspective and a conservative perspective, where both respect one another and understand that, by listening to both, we actually get a product that is more reflective of the whole.
Having been someone who served at the city level, the county level-- county commissioner--at the State level, and now in Congress, it is discouraging to be here and not be as engaged as I hoped to in problem- solving and respecting differences of opinion.
So we will get through this. The Speaker likes to quote Lincoln: With public sentiment, anything is possible; without it, nothing is possible.
I believe he continued on to say: No statute has real force.
So that is good for us to remember, that we have to go back to our townhalls, as we all do, and sometimes some of the most difficult parts of those townhalls is telling friends that you disagree with them, that there is another side of the story.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend as well. It is always a pleasure to hear the gentleman's words of wisdom.
I am reminded of a story that you will hear if the docent has the time at Monticello, when somebody asked Jefferson when he first opened: Mr. Jefferson, why do you have a bust of Mr. Hamilton opposite you? You don't agree on anything with Hamilton.
Jefferson said: That is the point. That is why it is there.
So, I appreciate the comments. I look forward to further conversations up in that room.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to thank my colleagues-- Congresswoman Axne, Congressman Casten, and Chairwoman Waters--for their leadership on these commonsense bills to protect American consumers and workers, and I urge a ``yes'' vote on the rule and the previous question.
The material previously referred to by Mr. Woodall is as follows: Amendment to House Resolution 629
At the end of the resolution, add the following:
Sec. 3. Upon adoption of this resolution, the Committees on the Judiciary, Ways and Means, Financial Services, Oversight and Reform, and Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence shall suspend pursuing matters referred to by the Speaker in her announcement of September 24, 2019, until such time as bipartisan legislation to lower prescription drug prices and limit patients' out of pocket costs is signed into law.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source