Sean Duffy: “I thought that is what Democrats want: making them more responsive; bringing more competition into the industry; making…”

“I thought that is what Democrats want: making them more responsive; bringing more competition into the industry; making it better for investors; specifically, again, a bipartisan bill. Republicans and Democrats voted for this legislation. But we will ensure that proxy advisory firms are registered with the SEC. Oh, how bad is that, registering with the SEC, a little oversight? We are going to disclose potential conflicts of interest. How radical is that idea? Shouldn't we tell people that we have a conflict of interest, and shouldn't all parties be aware of it? I don't know why my friends across the aisle, or the gentleman from Colorado would be opposed to that. Maintain a code of ethics. That is not shocking. I think most people would agree to that point. And make publicly available the methodologies for formulating proxy recommendations and analysis. Again, this is transparency. This is a commonsense bill that both Republicans and Democrats have voted for because we have recognized-- and again, I am not a big regulation guy, as the gentleman from Colorado had pointed out. But when you consolidate a great deal of power in two companies that have a huge impact on American corporate governance, that makes a lot of people uncomfortable; and to have a little more oversight, to have a little more transparency, to have a little more accountability is a really, really good thing.…”