Protect Small Businesses From Excessive Paperwork Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for bringing this to the floor and my colleagues across the aisle for working together on this important bill. It is great that common sense is making a comeback in America.

I applaud the sponsor of the bill, Mr. Nunn of Iowa. He has done a remarkable job of bringing this to the forefront as people recognize the impact that burdensome paperwork can have on our American economy.

In recent years, the previous administration imposed complex and costly beneficial ownership requirements, backed by the threat of civil and criminal penalties. Compliance could cost up to $8,000 per year, and little was done by the Treasury Department to communicate those requirements to businessowners.

As a result, with little clarity and even less time to comply, over 30 million small businesses are now facing the risk of thousands of dollars in fines and potentially years behind bars if egregious.

Why are we making criminal suspects out of businessowners? American businesses already file a considerable amount of paperwork to ensure that money launderers and bad actors are unable to operate through shell corporations, as the chairman highlighted.

Why are millions of American small businesses now forced to file these regulations when they have already been burdened by so much extra paperwork?

This extension will also give our new Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Bessent, the time to apply common sense in helping small businesses meet these reporting requirements.

This bill is a strong start to reduce the immense regulatory burden that America's small businesses face each day, and it protects businessowners from unjust criminal liability.

Let's pass this bill and get back to common sense.

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