Luke Messer: “I thank the chairman, Mr. Carney, and Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York for their leadership on this bill. What would…”

“I thank the chairman, Mr. Carney, and Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York for their leadership on this bill. What would you think if I told you that the Federal Government bureaucracy is favoring foreign bonds and corporate bonds over identically valued U.S. municipal bonds? It wouldn't make any sense. Our Federal bureaucracy shouldn't create rules that favor loans to foreign countries over loans to our own local governments and schools, yet that is exactly what is happening under our broken Federal regulatory scheme. Today's bill, H.R. 2209, would correct this problem. I am proud to have coauthored this bipartisan bill with Congresswoman Maloney. I also want to thank my good friends--Mr. Poliquin, Mr. Pearce, the chairman, and others--who helped us in working on this bill. I ask my colleagues for their support. It is really just common sense. U.S. municipal bonds are among the safest investments in the entire world. According to Municipal Market Analytics, over the last 5 years--a period, by the way, during which State and local governments struggled to recover from the recession-- high-quality State and local government obligation defaults were only four one thousandths of 1 percent. Let me repeat that. The municipal bond default rate was four one thousandths of 1 percent during the recession. That is a pretty safe investment. Public entities depend on this financing, too.…”