WASHINGTON – Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) delivered the following open statement as the committee began considering 23 bills on Wednesday:
Our committee has been very active and productive since the start of the 115th Congress and today we continue that trend as we consider 23 bills as part of this, our fifth markup of the year.
Since this Congress began in January, our committee has reported 18 measures and already nine of them have passed the House, and three committee-referred measures have been signed into law.
As productive as we have been, we are just getting started because Americans have suffered through slow economic growth for far too long. Millions have been robbed of opportunities to get ahead, to earn higher wages and to achieve financial independence. Too many still live paycheck to paycheck and Americans deserve an economy that meets its full potential.
The bills we have considered – and the bills we will begin to consider today – are designed in large part to help build a healthier, more robust economy that offers growth opportunities for all.
The vast majority of these bills – 78 percent – already have bipartisan support, and I am hopeful that by the time we are finished debating them, all will have bipartisan support. Most of these bills are aimed at helping smaller banks, credit unions and early growth companies. These are goals that every Democrat and Republican on this committee has said they support. So this markup gives all members of the committee the opportunity to make their actions align with their words. They can cast their votes with what they have publicly said they support.
We’re bringing these bills forward because we must continue promoting access to capital, particularly for small businesses so they can innovate, grow and create jobs.
We also must reduce the regulatory burden that slows our economy and makes it harder for people on Main Street to get ahead.
We must continue providing community financial institutions with desperately needed regulatory relief as we know we are still regrettably losing one a day in America.
And, of course, we must do all we can as a committee to thwart North Korea’s nuclear weapons program with the most far-reaching financial sanctions ever aimed at that tyrannical and regressive regime.
I commend all members of the committee for their hard work so far this year and urge all of you to continue to bring forward good ideas for debate, like the 23 bills we have before us today. I thank those who have worked across the aisle on both sides who are sponsoring and co-sponsoring these bills and I urge every member to offer their support.###