Date: 2015-01-07
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 37. The Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act of 2015. This Trojan Horse legislation is actually a combination of eleven separate bills. ten of which were authored by Republican members of the Committee. I believe that Members should be afforded the opportunity to offer amendments and have a full and fair debate on these bills. However. by considering this package under Suspension of the Rules. Republicans begin the new year by denying Members the opportunity to thoroughly debate a measure that will have farreaching impact. Lets be clear: regulators have made tremendous progress in implementing the DoddFrank Act. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has already returned $4.6 billion to 15 million consumers who have been subjected to unfair and deceptive practices. some of whom live in my Congressional District in Houston. The CFPB has established a qualified mortgage rule. ensuring that borrowers who are extended mortgage credit actually have the ability to repay the loan. and has established new rulesoftheroad for mortgage servicers. In addition. the CFPB has worked with the Department of Defense to develop financial protections for service members and veterans. and established a national database to aide consumers with complaints about debt collectors. credit card companies. and credit rating agencies. among others. Let us not turn back the clock on American consumers who already have seen the benefits of the CFPBs efforts. The Volcker Rule has forced banks to selloff their standalone proprietary trading desks. and banks have shifted away from speculative trading to investments in the real economy. Shareholders of U.S. corporations now have the ability to have a "sayonpay." voting to approve or disapprove executive compensation. In addition Mr. Speaker. the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recovered more than $9.3 billion in civil fines and penalties since 2011. leveraging enhanced authorities provided by DoddFrank. The SEC has also established an Office of the Whistleblower to aid them in policing securities market violations. which has already received more than 6.573 tips from 68 countries. Further. private funds are making systemic risk reports to regulators. helping them to understand previously opaque risks. To implement the DoddFrank Act. the CFTC has completed 65 final rules. orders. and guidance documents resulting in the registration and enhanced oversight of 102 Swap Dealers. two Major Swap Participants. 22 Swap Execution Facilities. and four Swap Data Repositories. In addition. the CFTC has established rules governing mandatory clearing. exchange trading. and reporting of the entire $400 trillion notional swaps market. It should also be noted that since DoddFranks passage. stability in the market has led to significant economic growth. Nearly 9.7 million private sector payroll jobs have been created since February 2010. There are now nearly 900.000 more workers employed in the private sector than before recessionrelated job losses began in early 2008. The unemployment rate has fallen by 3.9 percentage points since its peak of 10.0 percent in October 2009 and currently stands at 6.1 percentits lowest level since September 2008. Real GDP has grown 10.2 percent since its trough in 2009. and now stands 5.5 percent higher than its prerecession peak in late 2007. That in and of itself is news that the media should be discussing. Moreover. the housing market is recovering. with home prices rising. negative equity falling dramatically. and measures of mortgage distress improving. The S&P 500 has risen by 85 percent since July 21. 2010 and has recently reached new peaks. However. this progress has been regularly stymied by a concerted effort by the Majority to underfund regulators operations. relentlessly pressure them to weaken regulations. and otherwise erect roadblocks to implementation. As a result. the progress regulators have made to implement the law remains precarious. I urge my colleagues to reject this legislation and have a full debate on its merits.