Patrick McHenryChairman

Washington, September 20, 2019 -

WASHINGTON – This week, the Committee held a markup to consider the following bills:

• H.R. 123, the “FHA Additional Credit Pilot Program Reauthorization Act”
• H.R. 132, the “North American Development Bank Improvement Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4029, the “Tribal Eligibility for Homeless Assistance Grants Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4067, the “Financial Inclusion in Banking Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4242, the “Greater Accountability in Pay Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4300, the “Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4302, the “Facilitating Access to Homeless Assistance Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4328, the “Protecting Innocent Consumers Affected by a Shutdown Act”
• H.R. 4329, the “ESG Disclosure Simplification Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4344, to amend the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 to allow for the SEC to seek and Federal courts to grant restitution to investors and disgorgement of unjust enrichment
• H.R. 4335, the “8-K Trading Gap Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4320, the “Corporate Management Accountability Act of 2019”

While several pieces of legislation passed out of the committee with bipartisan support, Democrats again chose to bring politically-charged bills before the committee with little-to-no bipartisan collaboration. Republican leader Patrick McHenry (NC-10) began the hearing by reiterating Republican’s willingness to work with Democrats to “legislate in a commonsense way to protect investors and consumers, create jobs, and strengthen our public markets.”

Watch Ranking Member McHenry’s opening remarks here or by clicking on the image below.

Committee Democrat’s made clear their unwillingness to include commonsense Republican proposals to improve one-sided legislation when they blocked an amendment offered by Congresswoman Ann Wagner (MO-2). The amendment would have added a provision to the “North American Development Bank Improvement Act” to combat human trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Congresswoman Wagner: “I ask that we again prioritize the fight against this horrific crime. Mexico is a major source and transit country for victims who are trafficked in the U.S. and we have a responsibility to work closely with our partner to ensure that U.S. investments are not undermining the rights of those who may be exploited in sex and labor trafficking. … My amendment will ensure that the U.S. and Mexican administrations continue to direct resources toward protecting victims, prosecuting bad actors, and preventing exploitative environments.”

The “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Disclosure Simplification Act,” despite the title of the bill, would make unclear how ESG metrics would apply to each public company and would pass the responsibility of Congress to legislate on these metrics onto unelected Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) bureaucrats. Congressman Bryan Steil (WI-1) offered an amendment, which was voted down by Democrats, to provide clarity to everyday investors on the materiality of these companies’ disclosures.

Watch Congressman Steil’s remarks on his amendment here or by clicking on the image below.

Chairwoman Maxine Waters’ “Protecting Innocent Consumers Affected by a Shutdown Act” contains no explicit data security requirements and would put millions of federal employees’ personal information at risk by requiring credit reporting agencies to develop a new database that lists employees affected by a shutdown and provides no accountability for the “self-certification” process. Congressman Denver Riggleman (VA-5) offered an amendment to replace this bill with a bipartisan and substantively similar bill that passed the House of Representatives this week, however Democrats again chose big government solutions over commonsense legislating that would ensure the safety of millions of consumers’ data. 

Congressman Riggleman: “Equifax already had 143 million consumers that were breached based on the fact that they did not have this proper type of protection for their data. This is not about partisanship, it is about delivering meaningful results to our constituents. Tomorrow we will come together to support H.R. 2290 the ‘Shutdown Guidance for Financial Institutions Act’ introduced by the gentlewoman from Virginia, Ms. Wexton. The House is addressing this issue in a reasonable, productive, and bipartisan fashion, and I support it. My substitute amendment would replace the underlying bill with the text that we have agreed upon. This amendment would bring clarity to lenders and offer real aid to federal employees impacted by a government shutdown.”

There was bipartisan support for an amendment offered by Congressman Scott Tipton (CO-3), to the “FHA (Federal Housing Administration) Additional Credit Pilot Program Reauthorization Act.” His amendment would monitor the impact that the pilot program would have on the FHA to ensure it did not have a negative impact on homebuyers outside of the program.

The Committee unanimously passed the bipartisan “Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act” to provide housing assistance to youth aging out of the foster care system. Congressman Steve Stivers (OH-15) has been a longtime advocate of legislation to provide necessary support to keep young people who may face a greater risk of homelessness off the streets.

Watch Congressman Stivers’ speak on this important bill here or by clicking on the image below.

Additionally, the committee unanimously passed the bipartisan “8-K Trading Gap Act” to prohibit executive insiders from profitably trading in their company’s stock while in possession of material, nonpublic information on a yet-to-be-disclosed event, such as the appointment of a new CFO, for example. Committee Republicans and Democrats worked together to find a bipartisan solution to protect consumers by cracking down on fraud and abuse within our financial system.