Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WOMACK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Fitzpatrick) for bringing this collection of bills to the House floor.

I would also like to express my gratitude to Representatives Himes,
Delaney, and Wagner for working with me on one of the underlying bills,
the bipartisan H.R. 801, in the last Congress.

Mr. Speaker, in this new Congress, adding jobs to our economy is a
top priority. And passing the Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small
Business Burdens Act is an opportunity for us to create a better
environment for private sector growth and job creation.

Title III, also known as H.R. 801, is no exception, and I am proud to
rise in support of its passage.

A year ago this month, I came to this floor to speak on the
underlying bill which passed overwhelmingly in this Chamber 417-4.
While it is unfortunate the bill was never considered by the Senate, it
is clear today that in the 114th Congress, its prospects are better.

Small financial institutions are essential to the communities they
serve. They have a deep and abiding love for the towns they serve
because these towns are their towns, and our constituents--small
business owners, farmers, hardworking Americans--rely on these
institutions to meet payroll, to purchase equipment, or to buy a car or
home.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, these financial institutions have come
under fire from Washington because of its regulatory overreach, forcing
them to spend increasing shares of their resources to comply with
onerous regulations--requirements intended for larger banks--instead of
having the flexibility they need to serve their communities.

Let's be clear: small community banks and savings and loan holding
companies were not the cause of the financial crisis, and I don't
believe they should be treated as though they were the cause. I am not
alone. In the 112th Congress, the House and Senate acted to eliminate
some of these unnecessary burdens by passing the JOBS Act.

Among other things, the bill raised the registration threshold for
bank holding companies from 500 to 2,000 shareholders and increased the
deregistration threshold from 300 to 1,200 shareholders, better
positioning these banks to increase small business lending and, in
turn, promote economic growth in our communities; but due to an
oversight in the JOBS Act, it did not explicitly extend these new
thresholds to savings and loan holding companies as well.

As a cosponsor of the JOBS Act, I can say with absolute certainty
that wasn't our intent, and I subsequently supported report language in
the approps bill of Financial Services to clarify and ensure that
savings and loan holding companies should be treated in the same manner
as bank and bank holding companies. Additionally, Representative Himes
and I have written to the FCC and asked that they use their authority
to carry out our original intent.

In spite of these actions and the House passage of H.R. 801 last
Congress, we are still without successful resolution to the problem.
Today's vote can change that, Mr. Speaker, and I urge my colleagues to
support this bill and the overall legislation.

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