Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, initial public offerings, or IPOs, have historically been one of the most meaningful steps in the lifecycle of a company. Going public was the ultimate goal for many entrepreneurs. You start a business from scratch, build it into a successful enterprise, and then open up an opportunity for the public to share in your success. Going public not only affords companies many benefits, including access to the capital markets, but IPOs are also important to the investing public. By completing an IPO, a company is able to raise much-needed capital for job creation and expansion opportunities, while allowing Main Street investors an opportunity to have an economic piece of the action and the ability to participate in the growth phase of a company. However, over the past two decades, our Nation has experienced a 37 percent decline in the number of U.S.-listed companies. Equally troubling, we have seen the number of public companies fall to around 5,700. These statistics are concerning because they are similar to the data we saw in the 1980s when our economy was less than half of its current size. For a myriad of reasons, the public model is no longer viewed as the most attractive means of raising capital. Instead, small and emerging growth companies are choosing to go public much later in their lifecycle or, frankly, choosing not to go public at all. We must work to change that trajectory, in my mind.…”