Anna Eshoo: “I thank the gentleman from Michigan for yielding time, and I want to thank my Republican colleagues for both what they…”

“I thank the gentleman from Michigan for yielding time, and I want to thank my Republican colleagues for both what they are doing today on the floor and for what you have said. These are really difficult economic times for the people in our country, and that's why it's so critical for Congress to bolster American innovation. That, in my view, is really what this legislation is about. It's an important way to facilitate capital formation, which is really one of the important pillars of our national economy, capital formation. I know how important this is for small businesses because my congressional district, which is Silicon Valley, is the innovation hub of our Nation and it thrives on capital formation. In December of last year, almost a year ago, I came to the Financial Services Committee at the invitation of then-Chairman Barney Frank, and I want to recognize and thank him today for what he did then, as well as the present chairman, Chairman Bachus, urging the committee to renovate essentially regulation A, which was created, as others have said, during the Great Depression to facilitate the flow of capital into small businesses. It's really quite extraordinary that FDR and Members of Congress in 1933 recognized the importance of capital formation at that time, and we have honored that since then. Now, reg A was established as a part of the 1933 Securities Act, and it was designed to provide regulatory relief for small firms that want to sell shares of company stock.…”