Holding Foreign Companies Accountable

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARR. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 945, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act.

The United States has the most robust, liquid, and advanced capital markets in the world. Companies from around the globe flock to the U.S. capital markets to fund their businesses.

However, to participate in our markets, companies need to play by our rules, and Chinese firms listed on American exchanges are the worst and most frequent violators of the rules.

Gone are the days when we can sit idly by and let Chinese firms, many with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party, participate in our markets at the expense of protection for everyday investors.

Most publicly traded firms are audited by public accounting firms which, in turn, are overseen by the PCAOB. This gives investors confidence that the books are accurate. China, however, refuses to let the PCAOB review its auditors.

The results are that investors lack confidence in the validity and reliability of a company's financial data. Worse, thousands of investors are defrauded. And the worst case scenario, American savers are funding Chinese state-owned enterprises which are fueling China's civil-military fusion and, in some cases, directly financing China's military space and cyberspace buildup, threatening U.S. national security.

As a member of the China Task Force, I strongly support this legislation. I urge this body to pass it. And we can no longer allow China to take advantage of our rules and defraud our investors.

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