Investment Advisers Modernization Act of 2016
Floor Speech
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Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be here today to talk about what is very essential in America, and that is getting people to work and creating opportunities.
Small businesses are essential to America's economic competitiveness. Not only do they employ half the Nation's private sector, but they also create two-thirds of the net jobs in our country.
Unfortunately, in recent years, small businesses have been slow to recover from a recession and credit crisis that has hit them especially hard. Unlike large enterprises that can obtain funds from commercial debt and equity markets, small businesses must often rely on their own personal assets, retained earnings, community banks, and credit unions for needed capital.
Last month, in the great city of Santa Clarita, I hosted my annual small business conference and expo. The conference was designed to hear from constituents exactly what was happening and their problems in small businesses. After listening to small-business owners and employees talk about the challenges they face, it was very evident that overregulation and lack of access to capital were the biggest issues.
That is why I applaud and support Mr. Hurt's work on H.R. 5424, the Investment Advisers Modernization Act of 2016. The Investment Advisers Act has proven to be a duplicative burden that not only drives up costs but also blocks an efficient allocation of capital.
We need to modernize these laws so that we can remove existing barriers and tailor our policy to help facilitate capital formation. H.R. 5424 would do exactly that. The legislation takes into consideration the business model of today's private equity and not one from 70 years ago.
I look forward to continuing my work with Mr. Hurt, and with all of my colleagues here in the House, on commonsense measures like the Investment Advisers Modernization Act of 2016, so that we can ensure our small businesses can grow and employ more of our neighbors.
Again, Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 5424, and ask my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill because access to capital is not a partisan issue, it is something that we need and will help our small businesses.
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