WATCH: Rep. Schweikert Takes Floor To Ask SEC Not To "Crush Our Opportunities" Re: Crowdfunding Investments

Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R-CD6) took to the House floor this morning to urge citizens to oppose proposed "crushing" rules proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") regulating crowdfunding for investments.

Schweikert, who helped author and co-sponsor the legislation which passed and was signed into law last year, used the Congressional Budget Offices' recently-released Long-Term Budget Outlook as an introduction to his crowdfunding remarks.  Schweikert would like the crowdfunding opportunities to "help grow the economy, and then the bureaucracy hands us crushing rules that make it almost impossible to use."

Schweikert exhorted citizens to "please, go online, make comments, help them understand this is supposed to be helping the next generation of small entrepeneurs in this country, and don't make it 550 pages of bureaucratic legalese.  It can be simpler."

The proposed rules are actually less than 100 pages long, although the preceding introduction, background and discussion is about 460 pages.

SEC Chair Mary Jo White stated she is "pleased" with the proposed rules, noting that they want to make sure this new market thrives in a "safe manner."

  

(The transcript of his remarks is from the closed captioning and may (does) have "glitches" and misspellings.)

00:00:04	MR. SCHWEIKERT: MR.
00:00:05	SPEAKER, I REQUEST TO REVISE AND EXTEND.
00:00:08	THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: WITHOUT OBJECTION.
00:00:10	MR.
00:00:14	SCHWEIKERT: MR.
00:00:16	SPEAKER, FIRST, I APPRECIATE THE HOUSE GIVING ME THESE FIVE MINUTES, THOUGH IT'S ALWAYS DANGEROUS WHEN A MEMBER STARTS WALKING TOWARDS THE MICROPHONE AND THEY'RE DOING IT BECAUSE SOMETHING HIT THEIR DESK AND IT ANNOYED THEM.
00:00:28	AND SO WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON SOMETHING IN OUR OFFICE TO TRY TO EXPLAIN AN INTENSE FRUSTRATION I HAVE AND THAT IS I BELIEVE WASHINGTON AND ITS EMBRACING OF DELUSIONAL MATH.
00:00:46	LOOK, I'VE ONLY BEEN HERE THREE YEARS, AND I'VE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE SINGLE BIGGEST PROBLEM I SEE IS NOT THE RIGHT-LEFT CONTINUUM BUT THOSE WHO OWN CALCULATORS AND THOSE WHO DON'T, THOSE THAT LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE MATH ACTUALLY HAS A VALUE.
00:01:04	I'M RIGHT NOW HOLDING THE C.
00:01:07	B.O. REPORT, THE 2013 LONG-TERM BUDGET FORECAST.
00:01:12	AND IN HERE -- AND YET I'VE NOT HEARD SOMEONE ELSE COME TO THIS MICROPHONE -- IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF A PARAGRAPH THAT SHOULD TERRIFY YOU.
00:01:21	FEDERAL DEBT, AS A PERCENTAGE OF G.
00:01:25	D.P. IN 2038, UNDER THE EXTENDED BASELINE IS PROJECTED TO BE ABOUT TWICE -- TO BE ABOUT TWICE AS LARGE AS THE AMOUNT ESTIMATED LAST YEAR.
00:01:39	YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS REPORT IS SAYING.
00:01:43	THAT BECAUSE OF THE POLICIES FROM THIS ADMINISTRATION, THE POLICIES COMING OUT OF OUR BUREAUCRACIES AND THE THINGS WE NEED TO ACTUALLY DEAL WITH IN THIS HOUSE, THE NUMBERS ARE ALMOST TWICE AS BAD AS IT WAS LAST YEAR.
00:02:00	YOU KNOW, FOR THE SPEED THAT WE'RE GOING TO HIT 100% OF DEBT TO G.
00:02:08	D.P. AND THE THING YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND IS IT'S WORSE THAN IN THE LONG-TERM BUDGET OUTLOOK FORECAST BECAUSE THERE'S DELUSIONS BUILT INTO THAT BECAUSE WE HERE AS A BODY INSTRUCT THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE SAYING, FOLLOW CURRENT LAW.
00:02:26	THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED TO BUDGET OFF OF.
00:02:27	HOW MANY OF US HERE COME JANUARY WHEN THE S.
00:02:31	G.R. IS UP?
00:02:32	MANY OF YOU KNOW IT AS DOC FIX, ARE GOING TO HOLD THE NUMBERS, HOLD THE CURRENT LAW WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE END OF ABOUT A DOZEN YEARS DOCTORS WHO SEE MEDICARE PATIENTS WILL SEE 73% LESS SO WE'LL WALK ONTO THE FLOOR HERE PROBABLY DECEMBER, JANUARY, AND FIX THE S.
00:02:53	G.R. SO DOCTORS ARE COMPENSATED, SO THEY CONTINUE TO SEE THEIR MEDICARE PATIENTS AND WE BLOW UP THE NUMBERS IN THE LONG-TERM BUDGET FORECAST.
00:03:01	AND WE DO THAT ON LOTS OF THINGS.
00:03:02	SO WHEN YOU ACTUALLY DO THE ADJUSTMENT FOR MATH REALITY, POLICY REALITY, LONG-TERM BUDGET NUMBERS ARE MUCH, MUCH WORSE THAN WE TALK ABOUT AROUND HERE.
00:03:15	AND NOW TO MY POINT.
00:03:17	A YEAR AND A HALF AGO, WE ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING BIPARTISAN.
00:03:21	WE DID SOMETHING CALLED THE JOBS ACT.
00:03:23	YOU KNOW, IT WAS -- IN THE SCALE OF THINGS IT WAS SMALL, BUT THERE WERE SOME NEAT THINGS IN THERE.
00:03:29	ONE OF THE THINGS I FIXATED ON WAS SOMETHING CALLED CROWDFUNDING, AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP THE TRULY LITTLE ENTREPRENEUR.
00:03:36	THIS IS ONLY UP TO $1 MILLION, AND IT WAS USING THIS THING CALLED THE INTERNET TO BE ABLE TO RAISE MONEY.
00:03:42	SO IF YOU'RE THE CUPCAKE SHOP OR MECHANIC SHOP OR YOU HAVE AN IDEA OF GETTING SOME ANGEL INVESTMENT TO GET GOING, WELL, THE S.
00:03:51	E.C. TOOK A YEAR AND A HALF TO DO WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A SIMPLE RULE SET SO THEY'RE A YEAR LATE AND HERE'S WHAT THEY BROUGHT US.
00:04:02	THIS IS THE LAW -- THESE HANDFUL OF PAGES, SIX, SEVEN PAGES IS THE CROWDFUNDING OF THE JOBS ACT.
00:04:12	HERE'S THE PROPOSED RULE SET.
00:04:17	SO IF WE'RE IN A WORLD WHERE WE HAVE CRUSHING DEBT SCREAMING TOWARDS US AND SOME OF THAT'S BECOMING NOW BECAUSE WE'RE BEING TOLD THAT THE NEW NORMAL IS A 2% G.
00:04:33	D.P. GROWTH, WE NEED TO BE DOING THINGS THAT ACCELERATE THAT ECONOMIC GROWTH OR WE'RE IN INCREDIBLE TROUBLE.
00:04:40	SO AS HOUSE BIPARTISAN, WE PASSED THE JOBS ACT, WHICH WAS ONE OF THE LITTLE INCREMENTS THAT IS SUPPOSED TO REACH OUT AND HELP GROW THE ECONOMY AND THEN THE BUREAUCRACY HANDS US CRUSHING RULES THAT MAKE IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO USE.
00:04:56	SO FOR WHOEVER'S LISTENING, WATCHING, CARING ABOUT THINGS LIKE THE CROWDFUNDING RULES THAT ARE BEFORE THE S.
00:05:04	E.C., YOU GOT 90 DAYS NOW.
00:05:07	PLEASE, GO ONLINE, MAKE COMMENTS, HELP THEM UNDERSTAND THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE HELPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF SMALL ENTREPRENEURS IN THIS COUNTRY, AND DON'T MAKE IT 550 PAGES OF BUREAUCRATIC LEGALLIES.
00:05:26	IT CAN BE SIMPLER.
00:05:28	WE CAN DO GREAT THINGS IN THIS COUNTRY, BUT WE CAN'T DO IT IF THE BUREAUCRACY CONTINUES TO CRUSH OUR OPPORTUNITIES.
00:05:35	MR. SPEAKER, I YIELD BACK.

B

We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.