[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 84 (Friday, May 14, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H2353]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ENSURING EQUAL ACCESS TO CREDIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Torres) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, in the United States, there 
are 1.4 million LGBTQ businesses contributing more than $1.7 trillion 
to the American economy. We have a vested interest in sustaining and 
strengthening those businesses with equal access to credit, which is 
the beating heart of the American economy.
  As a former New York City Council member, I partnered with the 
National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce to establish the Nation's largest 
municipal certification program for LGBTQ business enterprises, 
enabling those businesses to enjoy equal access to a $25 billion pool 
of government procurement. I am continuing in the United States 
Congress the advocacy that I began years ago in the New York City 
Council.
  My legislation, the LGBTQ Business Equal Credit Enforcement and 
Investment Act, builds on a foundation laid by several statutes and 
regulations. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, ECOA, prohibits credit 
discrimination, including but not limited to sex discrimination.
  A new interpretive rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 
clarifies that ECOA's prohibition against sex discrimination applies to 
sexual orientation and gender identity.
  Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank, which exists to enable and enhance the 
enforcement of ECOA, requires financial institutions to report 
information about the race, ethnicity, and sex of credit applicants who 
serve as the principal owners of small businesses.
  My legislation would expand the 1071 reporting requirements to 
include not only sex but also sexual orientation and gender identity. 
In doing so, it would enable antidiscrimination enforcement where none 
might exist.
  Even though the United States has made substantial strides toward 
LGBTQ equality, the mission is far from accomplished. Seventy percent 
of the LGBTQ community remains unprotected by antidiscrimination laws. 
When it comes to credit, in particular, according to the Williams 
Institute, more than 7.7 million LGBTQ adults live in States that offer 
no protection against credit discrimination based on sexual orientation 
and gender identity.
  Francis Bacon once said that knowledge is power. Knowledge affords us 
the power to detect discrimination that might otherwise go undetected. 
Take, as an example, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which is 
analogous to my legislation.
  Both the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and Iowa State 
University reviewed data from the HMDA and found that same-sex couples 
were denied loans at higher rates than heterosexual couples, despite 
having comparable creditworthiness. It also found that those same-sex 
couples paid higher interest rates and higher fees.
  The experience of the HMDA tells us that sunlight can be a powerful 
disinfectant against discrimination.
  The Equal Credit Enforcement and Investment Act would make credit 
more accessible, credit laws more enforceable, and creditors more 
accountable. It would represent a triumph of transparency in the 
service of economic opportunity for all, regardless of who you are and 
whom you love.

                              {time}  1300


                        Hate Never Brings Peace

  Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, earlier in the week, a public 
official posted on Twitter the following image of a map where the State 
of Israel is nowhere to be found. There is nothing accidental about the 
omission. Wiping Israel off the map is the objective of the BDS 
movement. Notice the image includes flowers to symbolize peace, as 
though peace meant the destruction of Israel itself.
  When most Americans speak of peace, we mean the peaceful coexistence 
of an Israeli state and Palestinian state, not the existence of one to 
the exclusion of the other. Most Americans are anguished by the trauma 
of Israelis seeking refuge in bomb shelters in the face of relentless 
rocket fire. And most Americans are anguished by the deep suffering and 
death toll of Palestinians who live under the repressive rule of Hamas 
and who have fallen victim to the wretchedness of war.
  The rapid-fire rhetoric that we have seen directed at Israel is so 
hyperbolic, so vitriolic, that it inflames rather than informs. It 
delegitimizes Israel rather than deescalates the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict.
  Those propagating hate are not part of the solution, but part of the 
problem. Hate never brings peace. It never has. It never will.
  You can either promote hate or you can promote peace, but you cannot 
advance both. Let us not be fooled by the pretense of peace. Let us 
find the wisdom to tell the difference between genuine peace and hate 
hidden under the guise of peace.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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