Joe Crowley: “I appreciate what we are doing here today. This is important, I think, for the American people to understand the…”

“I appreciate what we are doing here today. This is important, I think, for the American people to understand the critical role that Congress plays here in providing transparency and openness and helping corporate America do what they do best, and that is to generate and grow our economy. But I rise in opposition to my friend, the gentleman from Georgia's, amendment. And I do so because, it is interesting, there seems to be a double-speak, Mr. Chairman, coming from the other side of the aisle. On the one hand they say that there is too much government involvement, and at the same time their amendment would add another layer of government involvement, a further study that would slow this whole process down. I don't understand what is wrong with transparency. Transparency in our markets is what makes our markets so attractive to investors, to investors who want to know what is going on within that publicly traded company. This amendment would make the effective date of the bill conditional on the SEC's performance of a study to determine the effect of shareholder vote requirements on the ability of issuers to recruit and retain executives. The bill would not take effect if the SEC finds the vote would 'significantly hinder issuers' recruitment and retention of executives.' In effect, this is a way to kill the bill without voting against the bill.”