Bill Posey: “The gentleman's points about disclosure are on point. They simply don't apply to what this amendment does. It does not…”

“The gentleman's points about disclosure are on point. They simply don't apply to what this amendment does. It does not deny required disclosure of risks. Let me be clear, thousands and thousands of American families were devastated by Madoff, by Stanford, MF Global and the like. People lost their homes, people lost their cars, people lost their children's education funds, and people lost their lifelong retirement savings. I could go on and on forever, but we have a limited amount of time. The job of the SEC is to protect those people. The job of the SEC is to protect honest people from dishonest corporations and persons. It's not to impose other agendas on the American public. It's not to talk about the environmental stewardship of corporations. If a corporation dealing with securities does not disclose a significant environmental risk, then they're going to be liable for that failure to disclose. But it's not the SEC's job to talk about their stewardship. The SEC knew for a decade--a decade--a full 10 years--over 10 years-- that Madoff was stealing from people; and they refused to take any action for over a decade, and over $70 billion evaporated. People's lives were devastated. People died. People died. There are dead people because of what Madoff did. And the SEC didn't lift a finger. They were too busy doing other things. Now, here we intend to put SEC back on the job and focus on what they're supposed to do: protect honest people from dishonest people.…”