Republicans Push SEC for Additional Regulatory Right-Sizing, Modernization to Benefit Everyday Investors
Washington,
September 24, 2019 -
Today, the Committee held a hearing with all five of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioners under the Democrats’ false pretense that the Commission is not fulfilling its mission. While Committee Democrats pushed their partisan, anti-growth agenda and criticized the SEC’s work to right-size regulations that hampered our public markets, Republicans took the opportunity to question the Commissioners on what more can be done to modernize our outdated regulatory framework to better serve everyday investors.
The top Republican on the committee, Patrick McHenry (NC-10), began by highlighting the importance of the SEC’s recent work, under the leadership of Chairman Jay Clayton, to strengthen capital markets, which “translates to more economic growth and greater opportunity for everyday American investors to grow their savings.”
Watch Ranking Member McHenry’s opening remarks here or by clicking on the image below.
Ranking Member McHenry went on to ask the Commissioners about the effectiveness of our “ecosystem to allow cryptocurrencies to exist in the United States and to raise capital in a regulated environment.” Additionally, Ranking Member McHenry raised his concern with the onerous regulations on Regulation Crowdfunding, which has strong potential to help small businesses, and asked if the SEC would revisit these regulations. To which, Chairman Clayton responded:
Chairman Clayton: “Yes, and I think we should. If you look at the market for small business capital formation, Regulation Crowdfunding shows that you can get started. You can get up to … a million-dollar company going with Reg Crowdfunding and some of our other exemptions. It’s really hard to grow a business … things that we can do to facilitate capital formation in that gap so our small businesses can become larger—I think that’s an area we should focus on.”
Congressman Andy Barr (KY-6) questioned Chairman Clayton on the importance of the materiality of SEC disclosures to everyday investors and markets. Last week, Committee Democrats pushed through partisan legislation to pass the responsibility of Congress to legislate on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics onto the SEC and create uncertainty as to how these metrics would apply to each public company.
Watch Congressman Barr’s questioning here or by clicking on the image below.
Congressman John Rose (TN-6) applauded Chairman Clayton for his work to meet with the public outside of Washington, D.C. in order to better serve main street investors. Congressman Rose went on to ask the Commission about their work to help small business in rural areas, specifically economically distressed counties, where “small businesses are often the engines of growth.”
Watch Congressman Rose’s questioning here or by clicking on the image below.
