[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 20, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E83]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     PROMOTING JOB CREATION AND REDUCING SMALL BUSINESS BURDENS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. KEITH ELLISON

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 14, 2015

  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed that the Republican 
majority did not allow a single amendment on this bill that benefits 
powerful financial interests. Members obviously have concerns about 
elements of this bill--146 members opposed this identical bill last 
week. A previous version of this bill also earned more than 100 no 
votes last Congress. The 52 new members who began service last week 
were not able to offer an amendment either.
  These eleven bills make complex legal changes to our financial 
markets but no member of this Congress was afforded the opportunity to 
make a change. I offered three different amendments. All were rejected.
  My first amendment had the support of Chairman Issa and 
Representative Polis. If we had more time, Ranking Member Cummings 
would have added his name. This amendment strikes Section 7. Section 7 
moves us backwards in efforts to increase transparency in our financial 
markets.
  Section 7 would exempt more than 70 percent of public companies from 
complying with the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) 
requirement. This exemption would completely undermine progress already 
made by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Going back to the 19th 
century approach, requiring investors, academics, regulators and the 
public to read reams of filing papers is definitely not what we should 
be doing. Instead, we should provide the data in structured data sets 
available for bulk downloads for comparison and analysis by investors, 
academics, the regulators and the public.
  The SEC has made incredible progress in catching up with more than 
two dozen other nations that collect information this way. It has also 
made it easier for firms. A recent study by XBRL.US found that the 
average cost of submission was only $10,000. In fact, seventy percent 
of firms in the study reported a cost of less than $10,000.
  The costs to individual firms is offset by the benefits those firms 
will receive because investors have easier access to data to make 
investment decisions. Society will also benefit by having financial 
data more readily available.
  My second amendment required the Securities and Exchange Commission 
to finalize its CEO pay ratio rule within 60 days of the bill's 
enactment. CEO pay rose an average of 4% last year. The average CEO 
earns more than 330 times his or her average employee.
  My third amendment highlights what we really need to do to create 
jobs--end the mindless sequestration cuts which prevent us from making 
needed investments in infrastructure, housing, basic research, etc. It 
also strikes the language that further delays the transition to a safer 
financial system.
  It is wrong that bills that help Wall Street and multi-national 
corporations get fast-tracked while bills that help working families 
have been slow-walked for years.

                             (From XBRL.US)

  Consequences of XBRL Exemption in H.R. 37--Minimal Savings, Reduced 
         Transparency and Access to Capital for Small Companies

       New York, NY--The goal of Title VII in H.R. 37 is to reduce 
     the burden on small public companies by delaying the XBRL 
     (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) formatting 
     requirement for companies with revenue under $250 million for 
     a minimum of three years. The XBRL exemption in the bill will 
     not reduce the burden on small companies.
       The savings from an XBRL exemption is only $10,000 per year 
     for most small companies. A December 2014 study conducted by 
     XBRL US found that the average annual cost of XBRL filing for 
     companies defined as ``small companies'' per the U.S. 
     Securities and Exchange (SEC) definition is $10,406; and 70% 
     pay $10,000 or less. These figures demonstrate that the 
     annual cost of XBRL creation is low relative to the benefits 
     that XBRL formatting can provide. Financial data in XBRL 
     format is significantly more functional and timely, and 
     therefore less costly for investors and analysts, than 
     traditional HTML data, which must be rekeyed and vetted 
     before use.
       The study was based on aggregating annual costs for 1,299 
     companies, working with 14 separate service providers, 
     geographically dispersed around the country. The dataset 
     captures 32% of all companies with the small company 
     designation.

                          ____________________