Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4015, the Corporate Governance Reform and Transparency Act of 2017, and I thank the sponsor of this legislation, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy), the chairman of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee of our committee, for offering this bill. Each year, Mr. Speaker, public companies hold shareholder meetings wherein shareholders vote for the companies' directors and on other significant corporate actions that require shareholder approval. Mr. Speaker, the Securities and Exchange Commission requires that, before these annual shareholder meetings take place, public companies must provide shareholders with proxy statements that include all important facts about matters to be voted on at a shareholder meeting. Many shareholders and investment advisers rely on information provided by proxy advisory firms to guide their votes on these matters. H.R. 4015 would enhance transparency in the shareholder proxy system by requiring proxy advisory firms to register with the SEC, disclose potential conflicts of interest and codes of ethics, and make their methodologies public. Mr. Speaker, this is a pure disclosure bill, nothing more, nothing less. Proxy firms play an outsized role in the U.S. economy in shaping corporate governance. They counsel pension plans, mutual funds, and other institutional investors about how to vote the shares of corporations that they own.…”