On the recordJuly 14, 2015
I want to thank the ranking member for her support and leadership on this legislation. I also want to thank the gentleman from Virginia for his support. Most importantly, I want to thank my friend, the gentleman from Tennessee, for giving me the opportunity to coauthor this piece of legislation with him. Mr. Speaker, emerging growth companies that raise capital from private investors have two options available to them to give their investors a return. The first option is to take the company public, and the second option is to sell the business. The data overwhelmingly suggests that, when companies go public, the companies are very likely to take the capital they raise in a public offering, invest it in the business, create jobs, and hire Americans, as compared to when companies are sold, which are often done for strategic reasons that are based on consolidations and often result in jobs being lost. So, while companies are completely free to make whatever choices they want to make, we, as policymakers, should certainly be trying to level the playing field as it relates to initial public offerings in order to make them more accessible for emerging growth companies, particularly if they can be done without compromising investor protection. I believe strongly that H.R. 2064 does, in fact, do that. My colleague from Tennessee went through the specifics in terms of the processes that are being improved by the bill.…
