Political Quotes

“I thank the ranking member. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong, strong opposition to this legislation that seeks to overturn carefully crafted SEC anticorruption rules for extractive industries. Section 1504 requires that gas and oil companies that are listed on U.S. exchanges to disclose payments made to foreign governments. Congress mandated these rules in Dodd-Frank, and it was a bicameral decision. It was thoughtful and bipartisan. There were multiple hearings in both Chambers and a conference report. These Dodd-Frank rules were the first of their kind, and they have become the model for 30 other industrialized countries' own rules. These rules have been so necessary because of the so-called resource curse, in which we have seen countries--particularly Africa--that have lots of resources, but there is widespread poverty because of the corruption of these extractive industries. Surprisingly, these companies have implemented them, and they are currently complying with them globally. Now, we have heard a whole lot of whining and, quite frankly, lying about how these regulations have cost us jobs; but, certainly, the Obama economy has created a lot of prosperity. In fact, Mr. Speaker, investor advocates at asset management companies and civil society groups that are fighting corruption and instability support these rules. We should be supporting them. In fact, companies that have $10 trillion under management say that these disclosures help them manage risk.…”