Patrick McHenryChairman

Washington, September 19, 2014 - Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4, the Jobs for America Act, which contains two House Financial Services Committee regulatory relief bills.

“With millions of our fellow Americans unemployed and underemployed in this struggling economy, job number one for the Financial Services Committee is job creation and economic growth.  During this Congress, our committee has passed dozens of bipartisan, pro-jobs bills.  Yet Harry Reid has killed them, refusing to even bring them up for votes.  Instead, he adds them to the pile of jobs bills collecting dust in the do-nothing Democrat-controlled Senate,” said Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX).

“That is why we passed these bills again; to remind Harry Reid that while Obamanomics has failed, House Republicans have produced bipartisan, positive solutions to grow the economy and help create jobs.  It’s time for the Senate to join us in getting things done.”

The Financial Services Committee bills included in H.R. 4 are:

H.R. 1105, the Small Business Capital Access and Jobs Preservation Act, introduced by Rep. Robert Hurt (R-VA).  The bill corrects an overreach of the Dodd-Frank Act that diverts job-creating capital from small- and medium-sized businesses to unnecessary regulatory compliance costs. The bill exempts advisers to private equity funds from Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registration so long as the funds under management have not borrowed and do not have outstanding principal amount in excess of twice their funded capital commitments.

H.R. 1105 passed the Financial Services Committee with a bipartisan vote of 38-13 on June 19, 2013, and passed the House with a bipartisan vote of 254-159 on December 4, 2013.

“At a time when Virginia’s Fifth District and many communities across the country continue to face an unacceptably high unemployment rate, the House of Representatives remains committed to increasing access to capital for small businesses and removing the government as a barrier to job creation. The Small Business Capital Access and Job Preservation Act would reduce unnecessary federal regulations and restore certainty to the marketplace - allowing our Main Street businesses to access the capital necessary to hire and expand,” said Rep. Hurt.

H.R. 2274, the Small Business Mergers, Acquisitions, Sales and Brokerage Simplification Act, introduced by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI).  Like H.R. 1105, this bill eliminates unnecessary and costly SEC registration requirements for certain specialized brokers, who pose no hazard to investors because they do not sell securities to the public, so that more capital can be used for innovation and job-creation.  The SEC’s Forum on Small Business Capital Formation has repeatedly recommended that the SEC modernize and streamline the regulation of merger and acquisition brokers, but the SEC has never acted on these recommendations.

H.R. 2274 passed the committee by a unanimous vote of 57-0 on November 14, 2013 and passed the House unanimously by a vote of 422-0 January 14, 2014.

“It has been estimated that approximately $10 trillion of privately owned, small, and family-run businesses will be sold or closed in the coming years as baby boomers retire.  Closure of these small businesses will cost countless jobs across the nation. By reducing overly burdensome regulations on business brokerage services, we can create an environment where these small businesses are smoothly transferred to the next generation of entrepreneurs.  H.R. 2274 preserves jobs currently in existence while helping create the opportunity for future economic expansion and job creation," said Rep. Huizenga

During the 113^th Congress, the House has passed 23 bipartisan, pro-jobs Financial Services Committee bills, including two that were approved by the House earlier this week with strong support from Republicans and Democrats.  A list of those House-approved bills follows:

H.R.634
H.R.701
H.R.742
H.R.749
H.R.801
H.R.992
H.R.1062
H.R.1105
H.R.1155
H.R.1256
H.R.1341
H.R.1564
H.R.2274
H.R.2374
H.R.2672
H.R.3193
H.R.3211
H.R.3329
H.R.3448
H.R.3584
H.R.4167
H.R. 5405
H.R. 5461

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