Increasing Investor Opportunities Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Chairman, I thank Chairwoman Wagner for her leadership and, with all due respect to our minority leader, I oppose this amendment. I do support the INVEST Act, led by Chairman Hill and subcommittee Chairwoman Wagner strongly.
The INVEST Act broadens opportunities for everyday Americans to invest in public and private markets, expands access to capital, facilitates capital formation, promotes transparency, and helps charitable organizations build retirement security for their employees.
For example, it allows people to invest in private markets based on their knowledge and experience, whereas previously they could only qualify based on their income.
It encourages new public companies to issue more shares without burdensome regulations so they can focus on hiring and expanding instead of diverting limited resources to filing paperwork with the SEC.
Thanks to Representative Huizenga's leadership, investors can now access important disclosure forms electronically for the first time instead of only on paper through the mail.
The INVEST Act also includes my bill, H.R. 3645, the ACCESS Act, which passed the Financial Services Committee earlier this year 51-0. Right now, if a small business uses crowdfunding--which is raising money online for everyday people who want to invest--the moment the business raises more than $100,000, they have to pay for financial statements that can cost up to $10,000. For many start-ups, that is a huge chunk of their money that they are trying to raise. This makes this an improved situation.
The ACCESS Act simply lifts the limit to $250,000 so small businesses can raise the early capital they need. Its inclusion in the INVEST Act is a significant bipartisan step toward making capital formation more practical and affordable.
This legislation puts everyday Americans first and uses the strength of our capital markets to fuel growth on Main Street, not Wall Street. The INVEST Act is a major win for workers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses, and I support its passage.
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