[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16735]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 H.R. 2930, THE ENTREPRENEUR ACCESS TO CAPITAL ACT, AND H.R. 2940, THE 
                 ACCESS TO CAPITAL FOR JOB CREATORS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 3, 2011

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2930, the 
Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, and H.R. 2940, the Access to 
Capital for Job Creators Act. Just as I remarked earlier this week 
during the House's consideration of H.R. 1070 and H.R. 1965, I strongly 
support measures to free up capital for job creation, but such measures 
must be responsible and protect investors. I lament that the bills we 
consider here today fail to meet that threshold.
  H.R. 2930 has as its goal the facilitation of crowdfunding, a 
relatively new phenomenon and one the Securities Exchange Commission is 
beginning to study. Mandating laxer regulatory requirements in statute 
strikes me as premature, if not irresponsible, in this case. Further, I 
recognize the potential the Internet holds for the financial services 
industry but also have grave reservations on the nefarious ways in 
which it can be used to defraud investors, particularly the more casual 
kind that might participate in crowdfunding.
  The other bill on which we will vote--H.R. 2940--would seem to 
obviate the regulatory distinction made between private and public 
securities. The latter are permitted to be solicited publicly in 
exchange for greater regulatory scrutiny. I am extremely wary of 
granting the same privilege to private securities without associated 
reporting requirements.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleagues on the Committee on Financial 
Services for producing bipartisan legislation. Nevertheless, I cannot 
in good conscience support either H.R. 2930 or H.R. 2940 because each 
bill obfuscates transparency for investors and could expose them to new 
risks that any intelligent person would seek to avoid in this economy.
  On a final note, I would add that the financial deregulatory bills 
considered by the House this week will put more pressure on our 
country's broken fiduciary system. By waiving registration and 
reporting requirements, we will be further muddying the distinction 
between brokers and investment advisers. This will be to the detriment 
of investors and market integrity.

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