Political Quotes

“I thank Ranking Member Waters for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.J. Res. 41 and in support of the SEC rule requiring resource extraction companies to disclose payments to governments. Historically, payment for resources is a huge source of corruption in developing countries, which, for most of us, is morally abhorrent; but what I want to talk about is the competitive advantage that we gain when we embrace the principles of the democratic rule of law, transparency, and morality that our financial system depends upon. We passed Dodd-Frank to strengthen our financial system in a time of crisis but also to make it more transparent and effective for American consumers and investors. Section 1504 of Dodd-Frank directed the SEC to publish a rule requiring issuers to disclose the types and amounts of payments for each project and to each government annually. The provision improved disclosures made to financial regulators and to investors. Private and public institutional investors--representing trillions of dollars invested on behalf of American families--voiced support to the SEC in favor of the rule. There are two main reasons for this support from institutional investors: First, all investors want to be able to review payments to all governments, to assess the exposure the issuer may have to corruption risk.…”