Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4015. I thank Chairman Duffy for his leadership on this bipartisan piece of legislation, which will improve our country's shareholder proxy system. Since the early 2000s, we have seen market share and the shareholder proxy system consolidate, essentially, into a duopoly, as two firms control 97 percent of the market, so, under the current system, potential conflicts of interest abound. For example, proxy advisory firms that provide voting recommendations to advisers often provide consulting services to those same public companies. So wouldn't it make sense that they at least notify their shareholders of this potential conflict of interest? Well, right now, while the SEC has offered guidance on this problem, the proxy firm wouldn't be required to do so. We need to get this bill on the books just to address this problem. {time} 1345 This bill is also timely because we have seen proxy firms align themselves with political causes, unions, and interest groups that do not always represent their shareholders' best interests. Shareholders oftentimes aren't even aware of these conflicts. Again, reform is needed. So it should go without saying, Mr. Speaker, that the two problems outlined above pose problems for the shareholder and for the average investor. We cannot continue to allow the security laws and processes to be wrapped in a service of political agenda. Mr.…”