Anna Eshoo: “I thank the gentleman from New York, my good friend, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition not to…”

“I thank the gentleman from New York, my good friend, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition not to the legislation-- because I am a cosponsor of it and I think it is a very good bill and I think it is an important bill--Empowering Employees through Stock Ownership Act. The underlying policy of this bill--it is bipartisan, as has been stated--is to allow employees of privately owned companies to be able to defer taxes owed on exercised stock options for up to 7 years. I think that there is unanimity on this. I know something about stock options. I have represented Silicon Valley for 24 years. I led the House in a battle many, many years ago on stock options. And I won that, by the way. So I know how stock options work, and I think that it is very important for nonpublic entities--the startups, first of all-- to be able to attract people. When they attract these talented employees, the option of stock options with a deferred tax status would be very, very important. It is a magnet. We always want new businesses to be born. We want them to grow. We want them to go public. We want them to employ more people. That is the way our economy works. I think that it is a very, very important policy to support. But I also think that--as we recognize the responsibility to take a step to help to expand our economy, I also think it is responsible to think about how we conduct our finances.…”