Advising. Family members will look out for one another. Thus, this legislation for the same reason allows Family Offices to count as accredited investors to make private placement investments the speaker pro tempore the gentleman will suspend. The gentleman may resume. Mr. Barr thank you, mr. Speaker. This legislation for the same reason allows Family Offices to account for accredited investors which will allow them to make private placement investments. The end result is more capital will be available for investment in businesses resulting in more jobs and greater Economic Opportunity for americans of all walks of life. I want to thank representative Carolyn Maloney and chairman hensarling for their leadership on this important legislation, and i urge my colleagues in the house to support the Family Office technical correction act. Mr. Speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time is reserved. The gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Waters thank you, mr. Speaker. H. R. 3972 would expand the definition of accredited investor to organizations known as Family Offices and their family clients. Family offices manage the financial interests of wealthy families. Deeming Family Offices and family clients to be accredited investors would allow them to more easily invest in private, unregistered security offerings. Today, each family client, Family Member and associated employees and entities must independently meet the accredited investor definition. This would require, for example, that each individual in a family independently meet certain income or net worth thresholds. As i understand it, this process can be cumbersome for private funds who may lose their unregistered status if they fail to appropriately verify their investors as accredited or otherwise qualified to invest in private offerings. If theres any doubt a private fund could deny a Family Office or family client the opportunity to invest. This bill seeks to remedy that problem by recognizing that Family Offices and family clients are financially sophisticated in their own thanks to an amendment by representative maloney that was unanimously accepted during the committee markup. The bill ensures these Family Offices and family clients have the financial wherewithal and knowledge to invest as accredited investors and typically risk in typically risky offerings. Specifically, the bill would apply the same standards currently in place for trust so that, number one, the Family Office must have more than 5 million in assets. Two, the Family Office and family clients must not be formed for the specific purpose of acquiring the securities offered. And three, the Family Office and family client must be dedicated or directed, rather, by a sophisticated person. These restrictions limit the potential unintended consequences of the bill so that, for example, someone who could not otherwise meet the accredited investor test alone could not circumvent the rules by investing with another Family Member as, quote, Family Office, quoteunquote. They would also prevent estranged Family Members who could be up to 10 generations removed for investing as an accredited investor without receiving services by the Family Office. I support the bill and reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves her time. The gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Barr im pleased to yield one minute to the chairman of the Financial Services committee, the gentleman from texas, mr. Hensarling. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Hensarling thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from kentucky. This did pass our committee on a unanimous basis. I want to thank the gentlelady from new york, mrs. Maloney, for her leadership and for her other areas of leadership on our committee as a very senior democrat. Her counsel is always important. Her leadership is always important. This is indeed, as was described, mr. Speaker, in many respects a technical correction that needed to take place. We need to ensure that our Family Offices, that those Investment Funds can be put to their highest and best use to help grow the economy. I was happy that the Ranking Member used the phrase unintended consequences because indeed, mr. Speaker, from time to time there are unintended consequences of regulation. We do wish to ensure that these Family Offices that otherwise meet the definition of accredited investors have the full range of Investment Opportunities before them. This bill will do this. Again, it came out on a strong bipartisan and indeed a unanimous basis from the Financial Services committee. So i would urge all members of the house to adopt it and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters mr. Speaker, i yield to the gentlelady from new york, mrs. Maloney, the author of the bill, the sponsor of the bill, as much time as she may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney mr. Speaker, i rise today in support of h. R. 3972, and i am very thankful to chairman hensarling and Ranking Member waters for their support and assistance on this legislation. This bill is very simple. It makes what i consider to be a technical fix to the rules for Family Offices. Family offices are entities that are established by wealthy families to manage their own money and to provide Financial Services to their Family Members. The original Family Office was created by john d. Rockefeller 135 years ago, and still exists in the district that i represent. So Family Offices have a long and storied history in this country and have become important sources of liquidity for our markets. Its also important to note that Family Offices do not pose a Systemic Risk and did not cause any problems in the financial crisis so they dont close any safety and soundness risk to the financial system. Family offices arent regulated by the s. E. C. As Investment Advisors because they dont have traditional clients or outside investors. They invest money in their funds like most Investment Advisors. A Family Office is just that, a Family Office managing its own family money. Their clients are primarily Family Members and disputes between Family Members are better handled either internally by the family or through state courts which have laws to govern disputes between Family Members. Prior to doddfrank, the s. E. C. Had been exempting Family Offices and officers from the advisors act for decades on a casebycase basis. In doddfrank, we codified the exemption for Family Offices and required the s. E. C. To write a rule formally defining Family Offices. The s. E. C. Finalized that rule in 2011 so Family Offices that meet the s. E. C. s definition do not have to register with the s. E. C. Or as Investment Advisors. However, a problem has now come up that we did not anticipate. We assumed that every family client or a member of the family would qualify as a sophisticated accredited investor under the s. E. C. Rules. But it turns out that there are very limited circumstances in which a family client of a Family Office may not actually qualify as an individual accredited investor. For example, a 19 or 20yearold member of a wealthy family may be in his or her first job after school and may not be making enough money to qualify as an accredited investor which is over 200,000 annually. The real problem is under the rules we have now, if just one of these family client, a young person, in most cases, in a Family Office is not an accredited investor, then the entire Family Office is not considered an accredited investor and thus cannot buy any securities that are limited to accredited investors like privately issued stocks or bonds. My bill would fix this by just clarifying that all Family Offices and family clients are in fact accredited investors. The bill does not allow that any 19 or 20yearold can go out on their own and buy securities. It is limited to accredited investors that can only be done through the Family Office. The bill also includes some important limitations. The Family Office has to have at least 5 million in assets, which is the same limitation that applies to trusts in the current accredited investor rule. The Family Office also has to have its investments directed by a sophisticated investment professional which provides yet another layer of protection. So really this bill is a very narrowly tailored and provides what i consider to be a technical fix that will allow Family Offices to better serve their own Family Members. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and i yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Barr i continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman continues to reserve his time. The gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from california yields back her time. The gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Barr mr. Speaker, i have no further requests at this time, and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 3972 as amended. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition . Mr. Barr mr. Speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 3898 as amended. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. To clerk h. R. 3898, a bill require the secretary of the treasury to place conditions on certain accounts at United StatesFinancial Institutions with respect to north korea, nd for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from kentucky, mr. Barr, and the gentlewoman from california, ms. Waters, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Barr mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Barr mr. Speaker, i yield myself five minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Barr im pleased to sponsor h. R. 3898, the Otto Warmbier north Korea Nuclear sanctions act which imposes the most farreaching financial sanctions ever directed as north korea. Since 2006, north korea has undertaken six Nuclear Tests and earlier this summer, tests launched Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles capable of reaching United States territory. The most recent Nuclear Device that the country detonated on september 3 had an estimated explosive power 10 times greater than the bomb dropped as hiroshima. We must not allow the north to threaten a u. S. City with such weapons. In short, mr. Speaker, this bill would impose secondary sanctions on foreign Financial Institutions that do business with virtually anyone that trades with north korea. In addition, h. R. 3898 would essentially cut off pyongyangs ability to earn hard currency through north korean laborers working abroad and it would use our leverage at the i. M. F. , world bank and other world Financial Institutions to incentivize countries to crack down on north koreas illicit activities. As many of my colleagues know, north korea is already subject to both u. S. And international sanctions, the latter deriving from u. N. Security Council Resolutions. These sanctions have fallen short, however, for two main reasons. First, they have not given sufficient attention to north koreas enablers in third countries, especially foreign banks and middle men in china, Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. Second, even though u. N. Security Council Resolutions are supposed to bind u. N. Members to enforce them, implementation has been weak. As the u. N. Panel of experts concluded earlier this year, member nations have been so lax that north korea retains access to the International Financial system. As the Trump Administration has made clear, u. N. Sanctions are a floor, not a ceiling, for u. S. Action. H. R. 3898 embodies this principle through the use of secondary sanctions. Heres how such sanctions would work, mr. Speaker. The front office and middle men that north korea relies on in third countries still need banks. Those banks in turn use correspondent or payable through accounts held at u. S. Financial institutions to process international transactions. Its counterproductive for u. S. Policy to permit foreign banks to do business in america as well as business that ultimately helps north korea. Its time for those banks to choose between aiding and abetting the north korean government or standing for peace with america and its allies. H. R. 3898 forces foreign banks to make that choice. Foreign banks can either do business benefiting north korea or business with the United States. They cannot do both. Under an executive order issued in september, the president authorized the Treasury Department to levy sanctions on foreign banks that finance north korean trade. While this was a crucial step forward, h. R. 3898 would widen the net still further. Under this legislation, congress would be codifying mandatory sanctions on foreign banks. If someone is dealing with north korea, theres nowhere to run or hide. A Foreign Financial Institution is subject to sanctions for doing business with you even if that bank claims that its not directly financing the trade. H. R. 3898 also covers more Economic Activity than any previous sanctions on north u. N. Including current sanctions round. This mean this bill goes after banks dealing with petroleum, labor and any kind of investment or north korean shipping vessels. In addition, h. R. 3898 targets the technological support that north korea needs for its activities. This is critical for the regime to get its hands on financing. The goal is to show north korea that the path they are on has devastating costs. H. R. 3898 provides an offramp for north korea if the country wants sanction relief, but it is up to pyongyang to take t sanctions well pass today hold tremendous economic pain in store for the regime and foreign enablers. Finally, mr. Speaker, were honored to dedicate this bill to the memory of otto warm beer warmbier, warmbier, a young ma traveled to north korea and whose life was cut short by the regimes brutal lith. He was a student at university of virginia virginia, my alma mater. Otto held out his hand in friendship to the people of north korea, as we do. It is pyongyangs Nuclear Ambitions that threaten what otto represented, a world of openness, understanding, and desire for peaceful relations between our country and north korea. It is fitting that this legislation bears ottos name and that its goals embody his spirit. Mr. Speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time is reserved. The gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Waters first, allow me to say that im very pleaseds naming this by legislation after Otto Warmbier, were able to honor him and let naming this his family know that we will not forget him. Nor will we forget the