Blake Moore: “Oh my, my, my, Mr. Chairman, and my good friend from Michigan. The fact of the matter is that section 1502 is, in fact…”

“Oh my, my, my, Mr. Chairman, and my good friend from Michigan. The fact of the matter is that section 1502 is, in fact, working. The GAO report that Mr. Huizenga referred to actually said that the civil war and conflict is, in fact, diminishing as section 1502 is being implemented. It is working better and sooner than I thought it would be. Just a little bit of a refresher course for you, Mr. Chairman. The minerals contained in consumer electronics that we all use--TVs, cell phones--are fueling war and conflict in the Congo. And I am not talking about a little skirmish here. I am talking about, we are funding armed militias, and it is a civil war on a scale of deaths that compare with World War II, and notable for its brutality, its savagery, its mutilation, rape. I can tell you that our good GOP friends say that it is a laudable goal to stop these civil wars, but it just doesn't belong in securities law; the logic being the transparency doesn't belong in security law. Oh, okay. Well, I can tell you that companies find that it is material, a security term of art, whether their brand is tarnished with literally the blood of children and enslaved workers that are standing there, I would suspect, with some of these Congolese who want section 1502 to go away, who are running these armed militias for profit. So do consumers and so do investors. Hence, the rise of socially-conscious mutual funds that are regulated by the SEC.…”