Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Of Representatives 12192017

Vote on the motion to recommit will be followed by fiveminute votes on adoption of the conference report if ordered, and suspending the rules and passing h. R. 4323. This is a 15minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 191. The nays are 236. The motion is not adopted. The question is on adoption of the conference report. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Neal i ask for the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. Those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This i the speaker on this vote the yeas are 227. And the nays are 203. The conference report is adopted. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. The Unfinished Business is on the vote of the gentleman from florida, mr. Dunn, to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 4323, as amended, on which the yeas and nays are ordered. The clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 4323, a bill to to promote veteran involvement in stem education, computer science, and scientific research, and for other purposes. The speaker the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 420. The nays are 1. 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. Without objection, the title is amended. The mouse will come to order. The house will come to order. Members will remove themselves from the aisles and take their conversations off the floor. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered, or objected to under clause 6 of rule 20. The house will resume proceedings on postponed questions at later time. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 4, rule 16 i move that when the house adjourns this legislative day it adjourn to meet at 9 00 a. M. On wednesday, december 20, 2017, for morning hour debate. And 10 00 a. M. For legislative business. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . I move to suspend the rules and pass s. 1393. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk senate 1393, an act to streamline the process by which active duty military, reservists, and veterans receive commercial drivers licenses. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. Graves, and the district of columbia, miss north yop, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to evise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on senate 1393. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consumer. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Graves mr. Speaker, senate would exempt current members of the Armed Services o members of the Armed Services or reserve components from certain testing requirements for commercial drivers license it is they had qualifying experience while serving in the Armed Services and reserve components. This bill also expands the types of medical professionals that the department of veterans that who can certify veterans meet the physical standards required to operate a commercial vehicle. These commonsense changes will help remove barriers to employment for men and women who have served our country in uniform. This bill is a combination of h. R. 2547, the veterans expanded trucking opportunities act of 2017, sponsored by representative rob woodall, and h. R. 2258, the advance act which is sponsored by representative pete aguilar. The house passed both bills under suspension on june 26, 2017. The bill that were considering today passed the senate by unanimous consent on september 14 which means this will head to the president s desk once the house approves it. Mr. Speaker, i would like to commend mr. Woodall and mr. Aguilar for their leadership on the house bills and senator cornyn for his work in the senate. I urge my colleagues to support senate 1393. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from district of columbia is recognized. Mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, im pleased to rise in support of s. 1393, the jobs for our heroes act. This bill is a step in the right direction to help the nation tackle the longstanding commercial driver shortage. A shortage that i must say i have been working on ever since i have been on this committee, and especially since becaming ranking on the subcommittee. Of course at the same time to support veterans in a Successful Transition to mill from military to civilian life. S. 1393 ensures that all qualified medical professionals employed by the department of Veterans Affairs can perform ommercial driver physical exam ations for their medical patients. They are already eli amible to become certified medical examiners. This bill simply allows these individuals to utilize an alternative certification process that is currently being finalized by the federal motor carrier safety administration. The most recreptly available data shows that of the 54,000 medical professionals listed in their National Registry of certified medical examiners, only 25 medical professionals are employed by the v. A. The Online Training and testing system being developed by them and the v. A. Should help remedy this situation as these two agencies have done in a good and these two agencies have done a good job creating an alternative process that will allow more v. A. Doctors to become certified medical examiners while maintaining the safety and integrity of the certification system. Although allow more v. A. The fast act provision ied authorizing this process referred to physicians, they should allow v. A. Employed nurse practitioners, chiropractors, physician assistance, and other qualified medical professionals to participate. This bill ensures that these medical professionals are eligible to use this process. The bill also ensures the current the fast Service Member have military experience operating commercial Motor Vehicles will be able to more easily obtain a commercial drivers license. Congress included a provision in he fast act to allow states to waive the written c. D. L. Knowledge test for drivers with commercial driving experience, but it restricts this waiver to quote, former members of the military. There are a significant number of current reservists and members of the National Guard with military commercial Motor Vehicle experience who could benefit from the waiver. These service men and women receive the fmsca what the fmca calls as describes as thorough and comprehensive raining. Hours of behind the wheel training. Something that i have long sought and advocated for as a requirement for civilian drivers. These military drivers already have it. Fmsa has already taken action to make Current Service hours of b the wheel members eligible for the knowledge test waiver. On a temporary basis. Ast year fmssa issued an exemption that allows states to waive the c. D. L. Knowledge test for training military truck triferse trained military Truck Drivers. Whether they are current members of the military or are veterans. However, fmscsa temporary with its temporary exemption quires sorry, fmcsas temporary exemption expires october, 2018. This bill makes permanent whether they are current members of the military or the ability of current members of the military to utelelize the fast act waiver. S. 1393 is nearly identical to two bills the house previously passed earlier this year, h. R. 2547, and h. R. 2258. Both of which passed by votes of 4090, on unanimously. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker at this time i would be pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia. Mr. Woodall. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Woodall i want to thank my chairman for yielding me the time and thank him for his leadership. The Ranking Member, i appreciate her leadership as well. These are two house bills that the senate combined that we passed unanimously here. This veterans trucking language was language that Julia Brownley from california and i introduced together upon learning that of the more than 54,000 medical professionals that are allowed to certify folks for federal trucking licenses only 25 of those worked in the v. A. System. Of 54,000, only 25 were available to our veterans. We said thats not right, and so this house came together. We expanded all the physicians of the v. A. , became available to serve our veterans through the certifications. The bill went to the president s desk and he signed it. We had advanced practice nurses, we had physician assistants, we had folks working throughout the v. A. Health care system saying, you know what, we, too, are licensed to provide these physicals and if you change the language we, too, will be your partner in serving veterans. Again, Julia Brownley on the democratic side, i on this side, ms. Holmes norton and mr. Graves came together and now we have a further improvement to language that the rules are still being crafted for down at d. O. T. Mr. Chairman, folks dont think theres cooperation in this chamber. Folks dont think that we can Work Together in this chamber. This is an example of what goes on every single ways. Constituents raise problems. Republicans and democrats get together to solve problems. Im grateful for the leadership to get this done, to Ranking Member defazio and chairman shuster. I thank them as well. Mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from missouri reserves. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, im pleased to yield two minutes to my friend from california, mr. Aguilar. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Aguilar thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Far too often our brave Service Members return to civilian life only to find that the skills theyve gained in military service do not easily transfer to the job market. These brave men and women whove worked tirelessly to keep their country safe deserve to know they can thrive here after their service is complete. And for that reason, mr. Speaker, i rise in strong support of the jobs for our heroes act. Among other critical initiatives to help our Service Members find civilian employment, this legislation contains my bill, the advanced act. The advanced act will allow active duty Service Members, reservists and National Guards men to access the same unique testing standards for commercial drivers licenses granted to veterans by the latest surface transportation bill. This commonsense legislation will allow those serving our country to begin the process of finding civilian employment before they finish their term of service, allowing them to hit the ground running upon reentering civilian life. Our nations heroes deserve to know that the process of transitioning out of the military will be seamless and this Bipartisan Legislation will help ensure thats the case. I want to thank the Ranking Member and the chairman. I also want to thank senators warren, cornyn, and tillis for guiding this bill through the senate. I urge my colleagues here in the house to vote in favor of this today, and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia reserves. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. I dont have any more speakers, so id reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, this bill maries two priorities marries two ply ortiz. Jobs for our veterans. Two priorities. Jobs for our veterans. Re are jobs where there is a chronic problem, tough job, jobs which acquire people to be away from home often, for long hours. Jobs that do not pay as well as some other jobs, and so there has been a chronic shortage. This bill serves both purposes, and it serves our nation very well. I have no more speakers. I yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, id urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation, and with that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 1393. 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. Mr. Graves mr. Speaker, id ask for the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Graves mr. Speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass senate bill 1532. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk senate 1532, an act to disqualify from operating a commercial Motor Vehicle for life an individual who uses a commercial Motor Vehicle in committing a felony involving Human Trafficking. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. Graves, and the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. Norton, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, id ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on senate 1532. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, id yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Graves mr. Speaker, Human Trafficking is a terrible crime with an estimated 20 million victims worldwide. It is incumbent upon congress to take the steps necessary to combat this crime whenever possible. There was a case in san antonio where 10 people died after being illegally trafficked in a commercial vehicle. Drivers have been the first line of defense in helping identify and report these sorts of activities within the trucking community. We need these drivers to stay vigilant and we need to weed out the bad actors. In addition to the criminal penalties, drivers who knowingly take part in Human Trafficking should never again be able to drive commercially. Current law prohibits an individual from operating a commercial Motor Vehicle if they are convicted one of nine different times including alcohol abuse, negligent manslaughter and drug trafficking. Senate 1532 disqualifies individuals from operating a commercial vehicle for their lifetime if they ever use that commercial vehicle to commit a felony involving Human Trafficking. This bipartisan bill passed the senate with unanimous consent. And id like to commend mr. Katko for his leadership on the house version of this bill, and id urge my colleagues to support senate 1532. With that i reserve the balance. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, im pleased to rise in support of s. 1532. This legislation incity tuitts a lifetime ban from stitutes a lifetime ban from operating a commercial vehicle who used such vehicle to commit Human Trafficking. In the summer of 2017, 10 people died in san antonio, texas, in the process of being illegally trafficked in a walmart truck. That horrendous incident served as a stark reminder that the transportation sector can be exploited for heinous acts. Since 2007, the human the national United States<\/a> house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 191. The nays are 236. The motion is not adopted. The question is on adoption of the conference report. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Neal i ask for the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. Those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This i the speaker on this vote the yeas are 227. And the nays are 203. The conference report is adopted. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. The Unfinished Business<\/a> is on the vote of the gentleman from florida, mr. Dunn, to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 4323, as amended, on which the yeas and nays are ordered. The clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 4323, a bill to to promote veteran involvement in stem education, computer science, and scientific research, and for other purposes. The speaker the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States<\/a> house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 420. The nays are 1. 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. Without objection, the title is amended. The mouse will come to order. The house will come to order. Members will remove themselves from the aisles and take their conversations off the floor. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered, or objected to under clause 6 of rule 20. The house will resume proceedings on postponed questions at later time. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 4, rule 16 i move that when the house adjourns this legislative day it adjourn to meet at 9 00 a. M. On wednesday, december 20, 2017, for morning hour debate. And 10 00 a. M. For legislative business. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . I move to suspend the rules and pass s. 1393. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk senate 1393, an act to streamline the process by which active duty military, reservists, and veterans receive commercial drivers licenses. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. Graves, and the district of columbia, miss north yop, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to evise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on senate 1393. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consumer. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Graves mr. Speaker, senate would exempt current members of the Armed Services<\/a> o members of the Armed Services<\/a> or reserve components from certain testing requirements for commercial drivers license it is they had qualifying experience while serving in the Armed Services<\/a> and reserve components. This bill also expands the types of medical professionals that the department of veterans that who can certify veterans meet the physical standards required to operate a commercial vehicle. These commonsense changes will help remove barriers to employment for men and women who have served our country in uniform. This bill is a combination of h. R. 2547, the veterans expanded trucking opportunities act of 2017, sponsored by representative rob woodall, and h. R. 2258, the advance act which is sponsored by representative pete aguilar. The house passed both bills under suspension on june 26, 2017. The bill that were considering today passed the senate by unanimous consent on september 14 which means this will head to the president s desk once the house approves it. Mr. Speaker, i would like to commend mr. Woodall and mr. Aguilar for their leadership on the house bills and senator cornyn for his work in the senate. I urge my colleagues to support senate 1393. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from district of columbia is recognized. Mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, im pleased to rise in support of s. 1393, the jobs for our heroes act. This bill is a step in the right direction to help the nation tackle the longstanding commercial driver shortage. A shortage that i must say i have been working on ever since i have been on this committee, and especially since becaming ranking on the subcommittee. Of course at the same time to support veterans in a Successful Transition<\/a> to mill from military to civilian life. S. 1393 ensures that all qualified medical professionals employed by the department of Veterans Affairs<\/a> can perform ommercial driver physical exam ations for their medical patients. They are already eli amible to become certified medical examiners. This bill simply allows these individuals to utilize an alternative certification process that is currently being finalized by the federal motor carrier safety administration. The most recreptly available data shows that of the 54,000 medical professionals listed in their National Registry<\/a> of certified medical examiners, only 25 medical professionals are employed by the v. A. The Online Training<\/a> and testing system being developed by them and the v. A. Should help remedy this situation as these two agencies have done in a good and these two agencies have done a good job creating an alternative process that will allow more v. A. Doctors to become certified medical examiners while maintaining the safety and integrity of the certification system. Although allow more v. A. The fast act provision ied authorizing this process referred to physicians, they should allow v. A. Employed nurse practitioners, chiropractors, physician assistance, and other qualified medical professionals to participate. This bill ensures that these medical professionals are eligible to use this process. The bill also ensures the current the fast Service Member<\/a> have military experience operating commercial Motor Vehicles<\/a> will be able to more easily obtain a commercial drivers license. Congress included a provision in he fast act to allow states to waive the written c. D. L. Knowledge test for drivers with commercial driving experience, but it restricts this waiver to quote, former members of the military. There are a significant number of current reservists and members of the National Guard<\/a> with military commercial Motor Vehicle<\/a> experience who could benefit from the waiver. These service men and women receive the fmsca what the fmca calls as describes as thorough and comprehensive raining. Hours of behind the wheel training. Something that i have long sought and advocated for as a requirement for civilian drivers. These military drivers already have it. Fmsa has already taken action to make Current Service<\/a> hours of b the wheel members eligible for the knowledge test waiver. On a temporary basis. Ast year fmssa issued an exemption that allows states to waive the c. D. L. Knowledge test for training military truck triferse trained military Truck Drivers<\/a>. Whether they are current members of the military or are veterans. However, fmscsa temporary with its temporary exemption quires sorry, fmcsas temporary exemption expires october, 2018. This bill makes permanent whether they are current members of the military or the ability of current members of the military to utelelize the fast act waiver. S. 1393 is nearly identical to two bills the house previously passed earlier this year, h. R. 2547, and h. R. 2258. Both of which passed by votes of 4090, on unanimously. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker at this time i would be pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia. Mr. Woodall. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Woodall i want to thank my chairman for yielding me the time and thank him for his leadership. The Ranking Member<\/a>, i appreciate her leadership as well. These are two house bills that the senate combined that we passed unanimously here. This veterans trucking language was language that Julia Brownley<\/a> from california and i introduced together upon learning that of the more than 54,000 medical professionals that are allowed to certify folks for federal trucking licenses only 25 of those worked in the v. A. System. Of 54,000, only 25 were available to our veterans. We said thats not right, and so this house came together. We expanded all the physicians of the v. A. , became available to serve our veterans through the certifications. The bill went to the president s desk and he signed it. We had advanced practice nurses, we had physician assistants, we had folks working throughout the v. A. Health care system saying, you know what, we, too, are licensed to provide these physicals and if you change the language we, too, will be your partner in serving veterans. Again, Julia Brownley<\/a> on the democratic side, i on this side, ms. Holmes norton and mr. Graves came together and now we have a further improvement to language that the rules are still being crafted for down at d. O. T. Mr. Chairman, folks dont think theres cooperation in this chamber. Folks dont think that we can Work Together<\/a> in this chamber. This is an example of what goes on every single ways. Constituents raise problems. Republicans and democrats get together to solve problems. Im grateful for the leadership to get this done, to Ranking Member<\/a> defazio and chairman shuster. I thank them as well. Mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from missouri reserves. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, im pleased to yield two minutes to my friend from california, mr. Aguilar. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Aguilar thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Far too often our brave Service Member<\/a>s return to civilian life only to find that the skills theyve gained in military service do not easily transfer to the job market. These brave men and women whove worked tirelessly to keep their country safe deserve to know they can thrive here after their service is complete. And for that reason, mr. Speaker, i rise in strong support of the jobs for our heroes act. Among other critical initiatives to help our Service Member<\/a>s find civilian employment, this legislation contains my bill, the advanced act. The advanced act will allow active duty Service Member<\/a>s, reservists and National Guard<\/a>s men to access the same unique testing standards for commercial drivers licenses granted to veterans by the latest surface transportation bill. This commonsense legislation will allow those serving our country to begin the process of finding civilian employment before they finish their term of service, allowing them to hit the ground running upon reentering civilian life. Our nations heroes deserve to know that the process of transitioning out of the military will be seamless and this Bipartisan Legislation<\/a> will help ensure thats the case. I want to thank the Ranking Member<\/a> and the chairman. I also want to thank senators warren, cornyn, and tillis for guiding this bill through the senate. I urge my colleagues here in the house to vote in favor of this today, and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia reserves. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. I dont have any more speakers, so id reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, this bill maries two priorities marries two ply ortiz. Jobs for our veterans. Two priorities. Jobs for our veterans. Re are jobs where there is a chronic problem, tough job, jobs which acquire people to be away from home often, for long hours. Jobs that do not pay as well as some other jobs, and so there has been a chronic shortage. This bill serves both purposes, and it serves our nation very well. I have no more speakers. I yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, id urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation, and with that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 1393. 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. Mr. Graves mr. Speaker, id ask for the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Graves mr. Speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass senate bill 1532. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk senate 1532, an act to disqualify from operating a commercial Motor Vehicle<\/a> for life an individual who uses a commercial Motor Vehicle<\/a> in committing a felony involving Human Trafficking<\/a>. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. Graves, and the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. Norton, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, id ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on senate 1532. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, id yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Graves mr. Speaker, Human Trafficking<\/a> is a terrible crime with an estimated 20 million victims worldwide. It is incumbent upon congress to take the steps necessary to combat this crime whenever possible. There was a case in san antonio where 10 people died after being illegally trafficked in a commercial vehicle. Drivers have been the first line of defense in helping identify and report these sorts of activities within the trucking community. We need these drivers to stay vigilant and we need to weed out the bad actors. In addition to the criminal penalties, drivers who knowingly take part in Human Trafficking<\/a> should never again be able to drive commercially. Current law prohibits an individual from operating a commercial Motor Vehicle<\/a> if they are convicted one of nine different times including alcohol abuse, negligent manslaughter and drug trafficking. Senate 1532 disqualifies individuals from operating a commercial vehicle for their lifetime if they ever use that commercial vehicle to commit a felony involving Human Trafficking<\/a>. This bipartisan bill passed the senate with unanimous consent. And id like to commend mr. Katko for his leadership on the house version of this bill, and id urge my colleagues to support senate 1532. With that i reserve the balance. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, im pleased to rise in support of s. 1532. This legislation incity tuitts a lifetime ban from stitutes a lifetime ban from operating a commercial vehicle who used such vehicle to commit Human Trafficking<\/a>. In the summer of 2017, 10 people died in san antonio, texas, in the process of being illegally trafficked in a walmart truck. That horrendous incident served as a stark reminder that the transportation sector can be exploited for heinous acts. Since 2007, the human the national Human Trafficking<\/a> hotline has received reports of more than 22,000 sex trafficking cases inside our country. In addition, it has received ver 5,000 reports of individuals who have been erced into forced labor or servitude. The National Center<\/a> for missing and exploited children estimates that one in every six runaway children that are reported to them last year had become victims of sex trafficking. Fmcsa currently prohibits any individual from operating a c. M. V. For life if he or she is convicted of committing specific crimes, including negligent manslaughter and drug trafficking. This bill ensures that fmcsa also takes action against perpetrators who use their c. M. V. To commit severe and that is the operative word severe forms of sex trafficking as defined by the trafficking victims protection act. The committee on transportation and Infrastructure Committee<\/a> reported an identical bill, h. R. 3814, to the house by voice vote in november. This legislation takes important steps to reduce Human Trafficking<\/a> in the transportation sector, and i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important bill. Mr. Speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. At this time im pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. Katko. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Katko id like to thank my colleague for yielding. Im proud to rise in favor of senate bill 1532, the no Human Trafficking<\/a> on our roads act. This bipartisan, bicameral bill strengthens our nations efforts to combat Human Trafficking<\/a>. As a former organized crime prosecutor for two decades, both on the northern border and on the southern border, ive seen firsthand the horrors of Human Trafficking<\/a>. Too often human traffickers take advantage of our nations Transportation Network<\/a> to transfer victims from one location to the next. The u. S. Department of transportation and the Transportation Industry<\/a> play a Critical Role<\/a> in preventing and stopping these heinous exploitations. I want to commend the Trucking Industry<\/a> for their commitment and training drivers to identify instances of Human Trafficking<\/a> through organizations like truckers against trafficking. Truck drivers are often a critical asset in helping Law Enforcement<\/a> identify victims who otherwise might go unseen. However, an isolated few individuals have taken advantage of their position to illegally traffic innocent people. We must stop this from occurring. Earlier this year, alongside my good friend, congresswomannesty, i introduced h. R. 3814, the identical house companion to this bill. While the vast majority of our nations Truck Drivers<\/a> are honest, our bill will make sure the select few are brought to justice. Im grateful for the chairmans support of moving this bill through the transportation and Infrastructure Committee<\/a> and bringing forward this to the house. Id like to thank the National District<\/a> Attorneys Association<\/a> for supporting this legislation. Again, id like to thank representative esty and senators thune and klobuchar for their bipartisan, bicameral leadership on this matter. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentlewoman from missouri reserves. The gentleman from missouri reserves. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, this is another example of what bipartisanship can achieve in the house of representatives, unlike the tax bill that was passed in the house of representatives here this afternoon. I have no more speakers, and so i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Id urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation, and with that id yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate bill 1532. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Graves mr. Speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass senate 1536. The clerk senate 1536, an act to designate a Human Trafficking<\/a> coordinator and to expand the scope of activities authorized under the federal motor carrier safety administrations outreach and Education Program<\/a> to include Human Trafficking<\/a> prevention activities and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. Graves, and the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. Norton, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Graves mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on senate bill 1536. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Graves with that, mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Graves senate bill 1536 asks the department of transportation to play an Important Role<\/a> in combating Human Trafficking<\/a>. Specifically what this bill does is it directs the secretary of transportation to designate a Human Trafficking<\/a> prevention coordinator from within the department. It expands the scope of activities authorized under the federal motor carrier safety administrations outreach and Education Program<\/a>, and under the commercial Drivers License Program<\/a> implementation grants include Human Trafficking<\/a> prevention activities. It requires the secretary to establish an Advisory Committee<\/a> on Human Trafficking<\/a>. Senate 1536 is supported by members on both sides of the aisle, and it passed by the senate with unanimous consent. Id like to commend ms. Esty for her leadership. Because of her work and partnership on this with mr. Katko, the house version passed through committee unanimously. With that id urge my colleagues to support senate 1536 and id reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, i rise in strong support of this bill as well. S. 1536 will help ensure that the u. S. Department of transportation has the necessary tools to reduce the prevalence of Human Trafficking<\/a> in commercial vehicles. In 2016, more than 7,000 cases of Human Trafficking<\/a> were reported to the national Human Trafficking<\/a> hotline. With this legislation, congress s stepping in to ensure d. O. T. Has Additional Authority<\/a> and resources to combat this afwrenalous crime. This bill egregious crime. This bill provides the federal motor carrier safety administration, fmcsa, more flexibility to combat Human Trafficking<\/a> by authorizing funding from two existing Grant Programs<\/a> to be used to support the reporting and the prevention of Human Trafficking<\/a>. The bill will also help d. O. T. Coordinate efforts to fight Human Trafficking<\/a> with other federal agencies and establishes an Advisory Committee<\/a> on Human Trafficking<\/a>. The Advisory Committee<\/a> will convene experts from Law Enforcement<\/a>, victim advocacy organizations, and Transportation Industry<\/a> experts to advise d. O. T. Of concrete can take to improve the recognition and prevention of trafficking. The Advisory Committee<\/a> will also develop and share best practices with state and local stakeholders so that they are better equipped to combat the trafficking in their own communities. The committee on transportation and infrastructure reported an identical bill, h. R. 3813, anchored by the gentlewoman from connecticut, ms. Esty, to the house im sorry, authored by the gentlewoman from connecticut, ms. Esty, to the house in november. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from the district of columbia reserves. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. I dont have any speakers so i will reserve at this point. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlelady from the district of columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, im pleased to yield three minutes to the author of the bill, ms. Esty of connecticut. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from connecticut is recognized for three minutes. Ms. Esty thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, i rise to strongly support the passage of s. 1536, the combating Human Trafficking<\/a> in commercial vehicles act. This bipartisan, bicameral bill is an important step in combating the terrible crime of Human Trafficking<\/a>. The combating Human Trafficking<\/a> in commercial vehicles act will help stem the tide of trafficking by providing training to commercial Truck Drivers<\/a> through the department of transportation to recognize and report trafficking, further empowering them to prevent this horrendous crime. Specifically, this bill designates a Human Trafficking<\/a> prevention coordinator at the u. S. Department of transportation, and increases outreach, education and reporting efforts at the federal motor carrier safety administration. Mr. Speaker, Human Trafficking<\/a> is an appalling and inhumane crime and it is occurring in communities all over my home state of connecticut and throughout the entire United States<\/a>. As i learned when a Human Trafficking<\/a> ring was broken up in my small hometown, anyone can become a victim of this crime. Regardless of race, age, gender or socioeconomic status. This appalling crime takes many forms. The vast majority of which are sexually ex employtative in nature. Exploitative in nature. The average age is 12 to 14 years old. And many victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children. Truckers and commercial drivers are often the first line of defense against Human Trafficking<\/a> in the United States<\/a>. Their eyes and ears are on the roads where victims are being moved across borders and from city to city. The combating Human Trafficking<\/a> and commercial vehicles in commercial vehicles act is supported by truckers against trafficking, the National District<\/a> Attorneys Association<\/a>, the commercial Vehicle Safety<\/a> alliance, the owneroperatorindependent drivers association, and im proud to be the coauthor of the house companion to the no Human Trafficking<\/a> on our roads act, along with my friend, john katko of new york. Im also pleased that we will be voting today on another bill that congressman katko and i coauthored together, the no Human Trafficking<\/a> on our roads act. Both bills were originally introduced in the senate by senators klobuchar and thune and passed unanimously. Both bills were also passed unanimously out of the house transportation and Infrastructure Committee<\/a> and so i urge my friends and colleagues to join me in voting yes on the combating Human Trafficking<\/a> in commercial vehicles act, and the no Human Trafficking<\/a> on our roads act today. So we can send these very important pieces of legislation to the president s desk for his swift signature. Again, i want to thank my republican and democratic colleagues, both in the house and the senate, for their work on these two important bills. Thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentlelady from the district of columbia reserves. The gentleman from missouri continues to reserve . Mr. Graves reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from the district of columbia. Would you like to close . Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, im pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from michigan, mrs. Lawrence. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from michigan is recognized for two minutes. Mrs. Lawrence i want to thank my colleague, ms. Norton, for interest to mazing our country put before us for a vote. I rise in support of 1532, no Human Trafficking<\/a> on our roads, and 1536, the combating Human Trafficking<\/a> in commercial vehicles act. As the vice chair of the congressional bipartisan caucus on women issues, and a member of the transportation and Infrastructure Committee<\/a>, i am pleased that we are solving these issues of real concern. Human trafficking is an inexcusable crime. According to the national Human Trafficking<\/a> resource center, about eight in 10 reported victims are women. Its a crime that exploits women more than anyone else, and especially young girls. Mr. Speaker, combating Human Trafficking<\/a> is a serious concern of mine and unfortunately in my metro t, i represent the detroit area, a Major International<\/a> transportation and shipping hub in southeastern michigan. We rank number seven in the total Human Trafficking<\/a> cases reported in our country. These bills mark progress toward combating Human Trafficking<\/a>. We are improving our systems to better recognize and report this crime. We are closing loopholes in our Transportation System<\/a> that traffickers have taken advantage of for far too long. Im proud to support these bills and i urge my colleagues to upport them as well. Mr. Speaker, today i need a vote and a voice for something that is good for this country. And so i stand here in support and i thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from missouri continues to reserve. The gentlelady from the district of columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from the district of columbia yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from missouri is recognized to close. Mr. Graves thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i would urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation and with that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. All time having expired, the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 1536. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair mr. Graves i ask for the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore in the opinion of the chair, 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative the gentleman from missouri is recognized. The yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this uestion will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Hensarling mr. Speaker, purr subte to House Resolution<\/a> pursuant to House Resolution<\/a> 667, i call up House Resolution<\/a> 3312. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk Union Calendar<\/a> number 313. H. R. 3312. A bill to amend the doddfrank wall street reform and Consumer Protection<\/a> act, to specify when Bank Holding Companies<\/a> may be subject to certain enhanced supervision and for other urposes. The speaker pro tempore in lieu of the amendment recommended by the committee on Financial Services<\/a> printed in the bill, an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of the rules Committee Print<\/a> 11549, modified by the amendment printed in house report 115474, is adopted and the bill as amended is considered read. The bill as amended shall be debatable for one hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on Financial Services<\/a>. Mr. Hensarling and mr. Green each will control 30 minutes. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Hensarling. Mr. Hensarling i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous materials on the bill under consideration. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Hensarling mr. Speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Hensarling mr. Speaker, today i rise in strong support of h. R. 3312, the Systemic Risk<\/a> designation improvement act of 2017. Its very important its a very important piece of legislation. It was introduced by mr. Luetkemeyerer who serves as chairman of the Financial Institutions<\/a> and Consumer Credit<\/a> subcommittee of the Financial Services<\/a> committee. And it is cosponsored by a Bipartisan Group<\/a> of members of the house. In fact, mr. Speaker, the bill was approved in october by the Financial Services<\/a> committee with a very, very strong bipartisan vote of 4712. So strong, mr. Speaker, that even a majority, a majority of democrats on the committee, voted to support the bill. This bill reforms what republicans and now Many Democrats<\/a> acknowledge is a flawed and arbitrary framework under the doddfrank act to designate socalled systemically important Financial Institutions<\/a> , also known as sifis. In fact, one of those democrats who acknowledges that it is a flawed framework, is none other than former chairman of the house Financial Services<\/a> committee, barney frank. The very frank of doddfrank. The coauthor of the doddfrank act. He himself has said that this provision in the doddfrank act, that many of us are trying to reform today, is, quote, arbitrary, unquote. And, quote, a mistake, unquote. Those are his words, mr. Speaker, not mine. That arbitrary and mistaken provision is doddfranks onesizefitsall standard that subjects banks with 50ds billion or more ins a 50 billion or more in assets to the same costly and cumbersome sifi regulatory standards as trilliondollar global systemically important institutions. We should take note that this flawed standard has now been criticized by Federal Reserve<\/a> chair janet yellen, former Federal Reserve<\/a> board governor, dan tarulo, former controller of the currency, thomas curie, and many other obama appointees. In other words, mr. Speaker, its that bad. Mr. Luetkemeyers bipartisan bill, again, very strong bipartisan bill, replaces this inflexible flawed 50 billion threshold that has been criticized by so many with a series of wellestablished, critical standards that more accurately measure systemic importance. Specifically, his legislation requires the Federal Reserve<\/a> to review a Financial Institutions<\/a> size, interconnectedness, global crossjurisdictional activity and complexity before determining whether the institution should be subject to heightened sifi regulatory standards. In other words, this bipartisan bill tailors regulations based on a banks actual level of risk instead of doddfranks onesizefitsall system that ensnares smaller, regional and midsized banks that essentially have Simple Community<\/a> bank lending models. These banks are not globally complex wall street banks and shouldnt be treated the same. It simply doesnt make sense to subject small, regional and midsized banks with only 50 billion in assets to the same expensive and cumbersome sifi Regulatory Regime<\/a> as a bank like Jpmorgan Chase<\/a> which has 2. 5 trillion in assets. Based on size alone, the smaller bank is only 2 fosket j. P. Morgan chases size. What does make sense, mr. Speaker is to pace the to base the regulation of these Financial Institutions<\/a> on their actual risk profile rather than asset size alone, which is exactly what mr. Luetkemeyers strongly bipartisan bill will do. While i personally do not support the sifi architecture at all and do not believe any Financial Institution<\/a> in america should be designated too big to fail, it is important that we always continue to work to find bipartisan reforms where we can find them and improve current law and the legislation before us today represents a good faith effort to do exactly that. And lets keep in mind, mr. Speaker, this is simply not a debate over an arcane definition in law, its about the real world effect these regulations have on the u. S. Economy and the working men and women that we represent. Let me share with my colleagues what the Small Business<\/a> and Entrepreneurship Council<\/a> has to say about the importance of the bill were debating today. Quote, access to working and Growth Capital<\/a> remains a challenge to many entrepreneurs and Small Business<\/a>es. H. R. 3312 would improve the lending environment and unleash capital by alleviating requirements imposed oned my sized and Regional Bank<\/a>s. Mid sized and Regional Bank<\/a>s which many count on for startup and lending have been negatively affected by this arbitrary doddfrank trigger. The American People<\/a> deserve better. They deserve a healthy economy with growing paychecks, better jobs and a brighter future. Its time to restore Economic Growth<\/a>, fueled by capital, flowing from americas banks to American Communities<\/a> across our nation. So i urge my colleagues to correct this widely acknowledged mistake in doddfrank, even act no, maamed by former congressman barney frank himself and put into place standards and help our Small Business<\/a>es on main street. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The yellow light from texas, mr. Green is recognized. Mr. Green thank you, mr. Speaker. Id like to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from georgia, mr. Scott. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. Mr. Scott thank you very much, mr. Speaker. As the democratic lead on this bill, this very important it is very important for me to point out i worked closely with chairman barney frank and the obama administration, both of which admitted at the time that it was a mistake, a blunt instrument, to be able to just put an arbitrary figure of 50 billion and say they are a threat to our Financial Stability<\/a>. No, our Banking System<\/a> deserves better than that. The American People<\/a> deserve better than that. It is not the amount of money that youve got in your assets that causes a problem. It was what they were doing that caused exposure so we want to substitute the 50 billion to make sure that we have a fivepoint test that the feds will give that will be able to determine if they are a threat to our security. D then tailor a program of advanced supervision that would prevent them from causing us this problem. Its a great bill. Its time we corrected it. And i ask all of my colleagues, both democrats and republicans, to do the right thing for the American People<\/a> and lets have a resounding yes vote for this sifi bill. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expire. The gentleman from texas, mr. Hensarling is recognized. Mr. Hensarling im pleased to yield five minutes to the gentleman from missouri, mr. Luetkemeyer, the sponsor, the republican sponsor of the legislation and the chairman of our Financial Services<\/a> subcommittee on Financial Institutions<\/a> and Consumer Credit<\/a>. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Luetkemeyer thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to start by thanking tcharme hensarling for his support for this legislation and id like to thank my good friend, representative scott, from georgia, for being a cospon or on the democrat side and for the hard work hes given us here on trying to get this thing done. Hes been a champion for us and we thank him sincerely. Today the house will consider h. R. 3312, the Systemic Risk<\/a> designation improvement act, a bipartisan piece of legislation to address an inefficient regulatory stuckture by accounting for actual risk rather than size alone in systemic important Financial Institutions<\/a> or sifi. Under current framework, sifi designations any Bank Holding Company<\/a> with more than 50 billion in assets is subject to regulatory supervision this approach fails to take into account differences in Business Models<\/a> or risk opposed to the or risk posed to the Financial System<\/a>. It has real world implications to studying Economic Growth<\/a> and limiting access to credit. The risk of a Traditional Bank<\/a> is not the same as International Active<\/a> complex firm. In fact the fed has produced data showing the risk of every single mid sized and Regional Bank<\/a> which paled in comparison to risks posed by many and almost all globally important banks. H. R. 3312 would remove this the approach taken today and replace it with analysis of actual risk owed to the Financial System<\/a>. The bill would require regulators to examine not just size but also interconnectedness, the extent of readily available substitutes, cross jurisdictional activity and the complexity of each Bank Holding Company<\/a>. Todays method isnt a reasonable reason for supervision, a fact thats been recognized by fed chair yellen, treasury secretary mnuchin and many members of this body. Even barney frank, as chairman hensarling just noted, the former democratic chairman and author of doddfrank act, has said the 50 billion threshold is completely arbitrary and has had negative implications on our economy. Its important to net this bill will not affect the authority of the regulation of institution. It doesnt garen tie the guarantee any bank will be permanently freed from the sifi designation. If the fed feels a bank deserves oversight they will do so. I want to discuss the Budget Office<\/a> c. B. O. Said this will result in indirect spending. I disagree. I believe my bill will create a safer Financial System<\/a>. At the same time its important to me and my colleagues that the bill comes to the taxpayers at no costs. The offset in the rule committees print will follow more than will more than cover any potential hit to the Insurance Fund<\/a> and make this legislation budget neutral. Bottom line is this. An inefficient regulatory structure that does not reflect the retail of the u. S. Banking system can have real economic consequences. We should not let the sifi process lead to mark place disruption or penalize companies for size alone. I worked on this legislation for the last four years. Ive not tone it alone. H. R. 3312 was drafted in good faith with and with considerable input from many of my friends on the other side of the aisle as well. Because we worked together, this legislation received broad bipartisan support and was reported by the fvensrble Services Committee<\/a> with a volt of 4712. That means nearly 80 of the Committee Members<\/a> voted in fare of this legislation. I want to thank my colleagues for their health in this effort, namely mr. Scott, ss sinema, mr. Hill, mrs. Beatty, mr. Budd, mr. Meeks. This is important issue and i hope our colleagues will join us in supporting this bipartisan commonsense measure. Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day this is a bill about the ability to allow banks that are caught in a California Hotel<\/a> situation here to be able to get out of this with a good analysis of the risk profile or Business Model<\/a> because at the end of the day this is what its all about. Their Business Model<\/a> is not a risk to this country or the Economic System<\/a> we have. Its not like the international connected banks and therefore they shouldnt be treated as such. The result, this is important for not only the mid sized banks or the banks below them because regulators have been allowing these sorts of requirements and rules to roll downhill on Community Bank<\/a>s as well. Its time to put a stop this. Its important to take a pragmatic approach this process and limit the real threats to the Financial System<\/a>. With that, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from texas, mr. Green is recognized. Mr. Green i reserve at this time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas, mr. Hensarling is recognized. Mr. Hensarling at this time i am pleased to yield three minutes to the gentlelady from missouri, the chairwoman of the Financial Services<\/a> subcommittee on oversight and investigations, ms. Wagner. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. Ms. Wagner im prows to rise in support of my colleague, mr. Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer<\/a> and urge immediate passage of his bill, the Systemic Risk<\/a> designation improvement act of 2017. H. R. 2312 uses a commonsense approach to allow regulators the opportunity to weigh multiple factors before deeming a Financial Institution<\/a> systemically important. More importantly, the bill would allow the Financial Stability<\/a> versight council to more precisely identify Systemic Risk<\/a>s by differentiating between stable activitiesened those that would truly threaten the Financial Stability<\/a> of the United States<\/a>. Under the doddfrank act, the Federal Reserve<\/a> was given never before seen Regulatory Power<\/a> to supervise those that were deemed systemically important. Unfortunately, the fed has chosen to ignore tailoring their regulatory standards and continues to base them on assets asset size alone. If an institution indeed is a minimal risk it is vital to make sure those standards reflect that lower risk. Finally, it is important to note that an arbitrary threshold doesnt matter to those costs in this sifi web. These Financial Institutions<\/a> often face significant Compliance Costs<\/a> under a sifi designation, redirecting resources that otherwise would provide consumers with affordable financial products. Chairman luetkemeyers bill creates a framework that promotes responsible regulation and enforces market discipline all while protecting taxpayer from taxpayers from unnecessary bailout. Mr. Speaker, again, i want to applaud my friend, the gentleman from missouri, chairman luetkemeyer, for his leadership on this issue, h. R. 3312 is about smarter regulation. I urge all my colleagues to support chairman luetkemeyers bill and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from texas, mr. Green, continues to reserve. The gentleman from texas, mr. Hensarling, is recognized. Mr. Hensarling im now happy to yield three minutes to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. Barr, the chairman of the Financial Services<\/a> subcommittee on Monetary Policy<\/a> and trade. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Barr i rise today in support of a bipartisan bill, the Systemic Risk<\/a> designation improvement act, introduced by my good friend and colleague congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer<\/a> of missouri and i also want to thank chairman hensarling for his leadership and for my friends on the other side of the aisle, particularly mr. Scott of georgia, for his leadership in support of this legislation. Among the least transparent and most mysterious black holes of the United States<\/a> government is the process under which under the doddfrank financial control law by which u. S. Financial firms are designated too big to fail. Formerly called systemically important Financial Institutions<\/a>, sifis, these are considered by allknowing washington bureaucrats as businesses so critical to the nations economy they need to be burdened with additional regulations, supervised more strictly to further the cause of bureaucrats, and dedsig nated as a sifi to send a clear designation to investors it is a firm most likely to be build out by taxpayers in the next crisis. For bank sifis theres a onesizefitsall designation model that says any bank with more than 50 billion in assets is a sifi. Bureaucrats colittle to nothing to account for the nature of each institution to determine it is better or worse equipped to deal with financial turbulent. They are not told what they need to do to rid themselveses of the shack tholves sifi designation. Instead theyre left in the dark to guess what they can do to derisk by federal regulators and even if firms try to make reform, they have no idea if the changes they are making will help them shed themselveses of this arbitrary designation. In the end, the entire sifi process does lit tl make our economy stronger and more resilient. Instead, designated u. S. Firms and their workersers are harmed an disadvantaged relative to their. For these reasons i support this Systemic Risk<\/a> designation improvement act which will give muchneeded transparency designation process and eliminate the automatic dez igs nation of banks with more than 50 billion in assets. Under this legislation, banks will be judged by their merits, such as interconnectedness, size, complexity and substituteability and the justifications for designation will be clearly communicated to them. The end result will be greater Credit Availability<\/a> for Small Business<\/a>es, more capital formation, more help for consumers, Greater Consumer<\/a> choice, greater Economic Growth<\/a> and greater competition. Again, i want to thank mr. Luetkemeyer and mr. Hensarling for their leadership on this critical issue and urge my colleagues to society for this legislation. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from texas, mr. Green, cants to reserve. Mr. Continues to reserve. Mr. Green how much time do we have . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas, mr. Hensarling has 14 and a half minutes. Mr. Green i continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas, mr. Hensarling. Mr. Hensarling may i inquire if my colleague anticipates having speakers on the bill colleague anticipates having speakers on the bill . Mr. Green i do and ill be making comments myself. Mr. Hensarling at this time im pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from illinois, the vice chairman of the Financial Services<\/a> subcommittee on capital markets, securities and investment, mr. Hultgren. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from illinois is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Hultgren mr. Speaker, i want to thank chairman hensarling for his continued work on this and i also want to thank my colleague and friend from missouri, mr. Luetkemeyer, for his important work on this issue. Im proud to be a cosponsor on this legislation because this is an important bill for Regional Bank<\/a>s in illinois. But also around the country. The Financial Services<\/a> committee has spent a significant amount of time debating which banks should qualify as socalled Community Bank<\/a>s and Regional Bank<\/a>s when determining how to legislate regulatory relief. I have to agree that as a bank starts getting larger, they start looking less and less like Community Bank<\/a>s. But both republicans and democrats have agreed that asset size should not be the sole characteristic for determining a banks riskiness to the Financial System<\/a>. There are a number of banks that have successfully made use of the traditional Community Bank<\/a> Business Model<\/a> of deposit tanking and lending that have grown in size. Some have grown substantially and now theyre able to serve more than one community. Congress should not punish these Financial Institutions<\/a> with an asset threshold that even congressman barney frank described as arbitrary. Our policies should encourage lowrisk relationship lending so communities can benefit from institutions of different sizes. At a minimum we should provide the banking regulators some flexibility to determine which institutions with assets over 50 billion pose higher risk to the Financial System<\/a>. In addition to the outstanding Community Bank<\/a>s in my district, my constituents also look to Regional Bank<\/a>s when theyre trying to find best rates on mortgages, car loans, credit cards or their student loans. Discover Financial Services<\/a>, which has its headquarters just outside my district in riverwoods, illinois, has a simple Business Model<\/a> that includes credit cards, student loans, home Equity Lending<\/a> and a number of deposit products that youd expect from a main street Financial Institution<\/a>. And this is the only business discovers in. Nothing they do is comparable to what you might see in one of the Big Money Center<\/a> banks. So why would why did congress mandate that this bank be designated as systemically important . The current law is arbitrary and subjects these banks to the same standards and trilliondollar global institutions. Automatically designating these institutions as systemically important unnecessarily increases the cost of lending and makes it more difficult for my constituents to achieve their financial goals. I encourage my colleagues to support the Systemic Risk<\/a> designation improvement act of 2017. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Green i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Green mr. Speaker, because i believe in truth in labeling, truth in titling, truth in the style of legislation, mr. Speaker, i believe that this bill should be appropriately styled the big bank bonus bill. As a matter of fact, mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that this bill be styled the big bank bonus bill. The speaker pro tempore the chair cannot entertain that request without appropriate clearance. The gentlemans request is out of order. The chair cannot entertain that request. Mr. Green mr. Speaker, my friends on the other side have said much about barney frank. Chairman frank was a dear friend of mine. I knew him well. Till do know him well. Mr. Speaker, chairman frank has not endorsed this bill. The language that they have used would lead an unsuspecting person to conclude that chairman frank supports this piece of legislation. He does not. I have in my hand a letter from chairman frank. Ill read a portion of it. He indicates that h. R. 3312 significantly increases the need for subjective judgment by the regulators and very much weakens the ability of Financial Institutions<\/a> to rely on clear rules to guide their decision making. Mr. Speaker, without question, chairman frank does not support this legislation. My friends have made much to do about the term arbitrary. A threshold thats arbitrary. What is more thresholdarbitrary than reducing the Corporate Tax<\/a> rate from 35 to 21 . Which you just did. Whats more arbitrary than reducing the individual tax rate 37 . 39. 6 to hich you just did. You are the masters of arbitrary numbers. That bill that you just passed them. L of so i would suggest that you examine your thoughts about arbitrary before we continue because i have more to say about arbitrary numbers. With this i yield four minutes to my colleague from maryland. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman voids for four minutes. Is recognized for four minutes. Mr. Sarbanes thank you, mr. Speaker. And i want to thank my colleague for yielding. I rise today in strong opposition to h. R. 3312. I appreciate my colleagues redesignation, renaming of the bill. I think its much more appropriate. This is a completely unwarranted piece of legislation. If you look at it, its just another gift to the wealthy and the well connected on wall street. We keep saying that over here. Because its true. Its crazy, in 2008 the economy as brought to its knees. Reckless behavior out there by a lot of these huge institutions, the nations largest Financial Institutions<\/a>, crashed the economy. Everybody knows it. And so what did we do . We took steps, smart steps. We put in place the wall street reform and Consumer Protection<\/a> act of 2010. And i think most americans were comforted by that. They felt, ok, theres guard rails in place now. So this kind of thing cant happen again. But the fact of the matter is that as soon as the inc. Was dry on that law ink was dry on that law, lobbyists moved in, the special interests moved in and they started to unwind the core provisions and the guard rails are starting to come down. This is crazy. This is a case of amnesia at capitulation to wall street at worst. Proponents of the legislation say this is about helping the mom and pop banks on main street. Main street. Where institutions like countrywide and Washington Mutual<\/a> and others, these are the names that haunt a lot of americans. A lot of american households suffered because of the behavior of those institutions. Were they main street banks . The fact is, under the bill before us, some of the nations largest banks, whose failure led to the carnage of 2008, theyd be exempt from heightened oversight. Exactly the kind of institutions that the public wants us to keep an eye on, would no longer have that oversight in place. Of those still standing, 30 of the 38 nations largest Financial Institutions<\/a> would escape sensible oversight imposed by doddfrank. Even more than that, this legislation is based on the false premise that the reforms of doddfrank were onesizefitsall. Thats the phrase we always hear to justify letting go of the reins. Oh, its onesizefitsall, people cant fit into this. We have to do something. But new york the agency was given the Maneuvering Room<\/a> the agency was but no, the agency was given the Maneuvering Room<\/a> to customize things and have been in a position to do that. There was a premium put on regulatory flexibility. Explicitly instructing the Federal Reserve<\/a> to tailor its prudential Regulatory Regime<\/a> based on size and risk profile of Financial Institutions<\/a>. Ironically the changes to asset thresholds will increase the likelihood of consolidation, as large Financial Institutions<\/a> and banks can now grow, that is buy out small players, beyond the 50 billion threshold. So the banks are going to start growing bigger again. The Financial Institutions<\/a> are going to get heavier again. It makes it easier for them to crash through whatever guard rails we can build. The public doesnt want this. And that means true Community Bank<\/a>s very well might be absorbed by superRegional Bank<\/a>s, which would superRegional Bank<\/a>s, which would worsen pricing. Mr. Speaker, americans are tired of watching this Congress Forget<\/a> the lessons of the 2008 financial crash. Theyre tired of a congress who routinely favors wall street over the interests of main street. And theyre tired of the same wornout talking points that are used to justify deregulation of wall street. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from texas, mr. Hensarling, is recognized. Mr. Hensarling thank you, mr. Speaker. Im now pleased to yield and a minute and a half to the gentleman from minnesota, hardworking member of the Financial Services<\/a> committee, mr. Emmer. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for a minute and a half. em m i thank the chairman mr. Emmer i thank the chairman for yielding. 10 years ago sommer americas largest Financial Institutions<\/a> failed summer 10 years ago some of americas largest Financial Institutions<\/a> failed it. Ruined lives across failed. It ruined lives across the country. Congress set out to prevent a future crisis by requiring enhanced supervision and regulation of some of the biggest Financial Institutions<\/a> in the country. By passing the doddfrank act. In doddfrank, congress defined the largest Financial Institutions<\/a> as, quote, systemically important Financial Institutions<\/a>, more commonly referred to as sifis, with those with more than 50 billion in assets. The goal of preventing our nations largest Financial Institutions<\/a> from failing and bringing down our entire Financial System<\/a> is laudable. The problem, however, is doddfranks definition of what constitutes a sifi. The 50 billion asset threshold. In fact, the creator of the threshold and former chair of the Financial Services<\/a> committee, barney frank, admits the threshold is arbitrary and he supports changing the threshold. H. R. 3312, the Systemic Risk<\/a> Systemic Risk<\/a> designation improvement act, we moves the arbitrary asset threshold and instead will classify the largest Financial Institutions<\/a> by their activities. Differentiating between stable activities and those that could potentially threaten the Financial Stability<\/a> of the United States<\/a> is a more accurate way to identify and monitor risk. I ask all my colleagues to support this important and appropriate policy change, to ensure the continued stability of our Financial System<\/a> by passing h. R. 3312. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from minnesota yields back. The gentleman from texas, mr. Green, is recognized. Mr. Green i yield myself such time as i may consume and id like to engage my friend from minnesota, if i may, before he leaves. Would the gentleman please not leave. Mr. Hensarling, would you ask the gentleman not to leave think . Want to engage him. Mr. Hensarling i want to engage him leave. I want to engage him. Mr. Hensarling. Mr. Emmer, if youd come back please. Thank you. Id like to engage with you for just a moment, if i may. The gentleman declines. Is there anyone on the other side that i can talk to . R. Hensarling . Is 39. 6 arbitrary, reducing the taxes on individuals from 39. 6 to 37 , what is 37 . Why is it not arbitrary . Mr. Hensarling is the gentleman prepared to yield me time . Mr. Green pardon . Mr. Hensarling is the gentleman prepared to yield me time . Mr. Green i yield time, yes, of course. Mr. Hensarling how much time is the gentleman yielding . Mr. Green i yield. Mr. Hensarling i inquire how much time is he yielding . I dont wish to be cut off by the gentleman. Mr. Green i yield such time as i may deem necessary. If youll take time. Mr. Hensarling i respectfully decline the opportunity. Mr. Green the arbitrary numbers that they have, they dont care to defend. Lets talk about the onesizefitsall accusation, if you will. Mr. Speaker, i have a source and its the department of the easury, which indicates that we have a tiered system and we actually have one, two, three, four, five different tears tiers. And these tiers will allow banks to be classified as small, midsized, regional, international, active and gfibs. There is a tiering system. But within the tiering system we have given the regulators the authority to tailor rules to fit banks within the systems. I was here, i know what happened in 2008. I understand why we have doddfrank. We dont have doddfrank because mr. Dodd and mr. Frank woke up one morning and decided they would like to regulate banks to the extent that they were regulated. We have doddfrank because we had a crisis. We have doddfrank develop because of exotic products. The 327 and the 228. Which had teaser rates that would allow persons to get into loans that had fixed rates for three years or two years, and then theyd have 27 years of variable rates or 28 years of variable rates. This was the exotic product that a good many people had and could not get out of because quite frankly they also had a prepayment penalty that would coincide with these teaser rates. T was a time of great crisis for banking. We also had the socalled credit default swaps which were just another way of laying off debts. Banks found clever ways to lay off their debts that they thought were risky. We had no doc loan, negative amortization, you could pay as much as you wanted and wed add to the principal what you didnt pay which means youd end up paying a lot more for your loan than you initially started out owing. We had interestonly loans. Just pay the interest. Let the loan continue to increase in value. There was no firewall between commercial banking and investment banking. They finally got glasssteagall they it took them decades to do it but they kid. Then we had the dastardly yieldspread premium, to allow the person servicing you, the loan originator, to qualify you for a loan at 5 , come out and shake your hand, and say good news, you now have a loan for 10 . And that was all lawful. And doddfrank ended all of this. We have doddfrank because we had a deregulation era very much comparable to what were about to go through now. Banks were regulated to the extent they couldnt do all of these thing bus we deregulated just as were about to do now and well get back to the future where banks will not have the liquidity necessary, where the credit risks that they take will be unreasonable. This is a bill that belongs on the trash heap of history. I adamantly oppose the bill. I believe that it is time for us to take the stand that the American People<\/a> want us to take, not the stand that the big banks would have us take. This is a big bank bonus. The big banks love this bill. 30 banks are going to be relieved of their obligation to let us know how to put them out of their misery in the event that they are about to bring the Banking System<\/a> down. 30 banks. These are big banks. 500 billion max. Big banks. These banks wont have the continue to give us the stretch test so we can know what their liquidity is and understand their credit worthiness by vir shoe of the loans they make. This bill is what the big banks want. But not the American People<\/a>. At this time im going to yield such time as she may consume to the Ranking Member<\/a>, the honorable maxine waters. Ms. Waters thank you very much. First id like to thank congressman green for his leadership. Hes a member of the Financial Services<\/a> committee who is dedicated to the proposition that we can and should work very hard to implement doddfrank and hes done a wonderful job in representing all of the people of this country when it comes to this issue of whether or not we are going to allow the big banks, the biggest banks, in this country to revert back to the practices they have been involved in historically, where it caused us to be into a situation that caused the recession in 2008 or whether or not we are going to honor the work of doddfrank and the reforms that were instituted and be about the business of fairness and justice and i want to thank mr. Green for his work, for his leadership and for managing this most important legislation today. Mr. Chairman, i rise in strong opposition to h. R. 3312, the Systemic Risk<\/a> designation improvement act. At a time when big banks are doing very well, and the industry made record profits, more than 171 billion last year, and business lending has increased 75 since doddfrank was signed into law, now is not the time to eliminate critical safeguards and reduce oversight of many of our largest banks. H. R. 3312 would roll back the enhanced prudential standards that currently apply to the 306 the largest banks with more than 50 billion in assets. These are some of the most important rules in doddfrank. Like enhanced capital and stress testing that are critical to maintaining a safe and sound Banking System<\/a> that supports the broader economy. Proponents of this bill argue that doddfrank imposed a one size fits all approach to any bank over 50 billion but the law makes clear that the fed should tier and tailor its rules to differentiate between even these large banks. Quote, on an individual basis, or by category, taking into consideration their capital structure, riskiness and complexity, financial activities including the financial activities of their subsidiaries, size, and any other risk related factors that the board of governors deems appropriate, quote, end quote. There is no one size fits all mandate and the fed has indeed tailored these rules. For example, the potential rules for trillion dollar banks are much tougher compared to those that apply to a 250 billion bank. And considerably more so compared to a 50 billion bank. And yet, after 18 months this bill would exempt 30 of our largest banks from enhanced oversight and replaces the 50 billion threshold with the cumbersome discretionary process led by the Federal Reserve<\/a> along with fsoc. We have a similar process for designating Nonbank Financial Companies<\/a> like a. I. G. Which impose a Systemic Risk<\/a>. It is strange that republicans are now pushing a similar approach after they repeatedly blasted the same fsoc designation process for being arbitrary, opaque, unfair, and unworkable. Those designations were heavily litigated, if not blocked in court, as these new designations by the Federal Reserve<\/a> and fsoc would likely be. Currently theres only one nonback designated by fsoc through this process so we should expect there would be hardly any designations through hr 3312. Hor these 30 massive banks who stand to benefit . These banks collectively hold more than 5 trillion in assets. Or one fourth of all banking assets in the United States<\/a>. Of the 30 banks, 123 of them are foreign banks, including deutsche bank, hsbc, Credit Suisse<\/a> and ubs. These banks violated a wade rining of u. S. Laws including antimoney laundering and unlawful trading practices so i have no clue why congress should even consider doing these banks any favors. For all the talk about helping out small Community Bank<\/a>s that erve our customers, in our rural and underserved neighborhoods, theres not a sing patrol vision that helps out the thousands of Community Bank<\/a>s an their customers. While some characterize this bill as helping, quote, medium sized, quote, banks, the mediumsized bank only has about 200 million in assets or roughly or roughly 250 times less than the massive banks that benefit by this bill. More troubling, instead of helping Community Bank<\/a>s, the bill would make it easier for the largest banks to acquire smaller ones, accelerating a 30year consolidation trend. Reasonable people can kiss agree on how best to dial up or down some of these enhanced standards and tier them more effectively. I know my colleagues have good intentions. But this proposal gos way, way too far in reversing strong oversight of the nations largest banks. Even the senate bill that resembles chairman hensarlings wrong choice act is far less aggressive, raising the 50 billion threshold to 250 billion, although even that proposal would be damaging. Let me close by emphasizing that h. R. 3312 represents one of the biggest, the largest, rollbacks of sensible rules for many of our largest banks, including a dozen foreign banks, at a time when the industry is making record profits. Such a bill would hurt and make it harder for Community Bank<\/a>s to compete. For these reasons, i strongly urge members to oppose this bill, h. R. 3312, and i will yield back to mr. Green. Mr. Green the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman from texas, mr. Green, reserves. Mr. Green whats the amount of time remaining. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas, mr. Green, has 10 1 2 minutes remaining. The gentleman from texas, mr. Hensarling, has 11 minutes remaining. Mr. Green i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas, mr. Green, reserves, mr. Hensarling. Mr. Hensarling im pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from arkansas, mr. Hill, a member of the Financial Services<\/a> committee and our republican whip. Mr. Hill i thank the speaker and the chairman, i rise in strong support of h. R. 3312, a bipartisan bill a majority of the Majority Party<\/a> and a majority of the Minority Party<\/a> on our committee reported this bill to the house floor. And its sponsored by my friend, chairman Blain Luetkemeyer<\/a> who has spent years studying doddfrank, seven long years studying the impact of doddfrank and how to to improve it. This bill removes a requirement that uses 50 billion as an asset test to dez egg nate whether a Banking Company<\/a> in this country is systemically important. If they are, subject them to higher regulatory standards. But instead of ending too big to fail, doddfranks misguided designation regime just entrenches it, mr. Speaker. Authorizing the government to designate large Financial Institutions<\/a> as systemically important creates a new class of firms that markets will interpret and assume are too big to fail. The sifi designation, as noted by many members on this side of the aisle is in fact arbitrary and i respect my friend that other numbers in statute may be arbitrary as well, but this one doesnt have any economic basis on why the participants in designing doddfrank picked 50 billion. But over the past seven years, we have had witness after witness tell us that we should look a different direction and not have an arbitrary number of 50 billion. Several Federal Reserve<\/a> officials have expressed that similar view. Mr. Frank, as noted, has expressed that view. So here comes mr. Luetkemeyer with an excellent idea, an idea of an activities based designation that the fed has designed itself, mr. Speaker. The Federal Reserve<\/a> has designed the metric were using to say that an institution is systemically important. Its activities based so we candice ting wish between levels of risk that might be systemically important to our country. Will the gentleman yields me 30 seconds . Mr. Hensarling i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. Mr. Hill activity based standards have been effective by the Federal Reserve<\/a>. They work. And they were used in evaluating acquisitions on Regional Bank<\/a>ing companies. So mr. Luetkemeyer is on to a good idea. And instead of using 50 billion, mr. Speaker, that was plucked out of thin air in the dez of night in the Conference Committee<\/a> in 2010, lets reflect on seven years and operate in a better way. So i urge support of this bill, mr. Speaker, i thank mr. Luetkemeyer for bringing it, and i urge our senators on the other end of this building to look at this as a model for how we should reform doddfrank in their own bill and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from texas, mr. Green, is recognized. Mr. Green i yield myself two minutes, if i may. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Green mr. Speaker, this bill does not impact 99 , approximately, 99 of the banks. Most banks in ts","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia600404.us.archive.org\/31\/items\/CSPAN_20171219_185900_U.S._House_of_Representatives_12192017\/CSPAN_20171219_185900_U.S._House_of_Representatives_12192017.thumbs\/CSPAN_20171219_185900_U.S._House_of_Representatives_12192017_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240630T12:35:10+00:00"}