Expanding Access to Capital Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Madam Chair, we all know there are incredibly important issues that are facing many of our families, and one of them is the rise in just uncontrollable corporate greed that we continue to see.

If you want your child to sit next to you on the airplane, expect a fee. If you cancel your cable early, expect a fee. If you pay your credit card late, in Michigan, average credit card late fees from big banks are more than $20. Sadly, even the medical industry imposes hidden costs and surprise bills. Collectively, these junk fees cost our residents billions of dollars each year, Madam Chair.

The telecommunications industry alone takes in an estimated $28 billion in fees annually from our residents. This is wrong. It is actually sick. We must push back against corporate greed.

Consumers should not have to deal with hidden charges and fees. None of my residents should have to deal with this, especially as the rising cost of services and fees continue to happen on top of these hidden fees. In this Chamber, we should all make sure that any law we pass does not support companies that exploit consumers. It is so important.

My amendment is simple. It ensures that any exemptions or benefits provided in this act may not apply to companies that impose the junk fees on our residents. That is it.

The act makes it easier for companies that employ gig workers to pay them in equity in lieu of a real salary. It exempts small issuers from disclosing basic financial information like revenues and expenses. It expands exemptions for venture capital funds, which played a significant part in the Silicon Valley Bank failure.

Regulation on the private funds industry would revert back to pre- Dodd-Frank era, allowing such funds to avoid supplying the SEC with basic information.

Such Wall Street giveaways we know are problematic and debatable. What is not debatable is that this body would relax or roll back regulations meant to protect our retirees and at the same time reward the companies that are literally negatively impacting our hardworking families with hidden fees and surprise costs. It is maddening.

I urge my colleagues to protect consumers and to promote transparency--they deserve to know--by adopting my amendment, which would ensure that those companies that benefit from this act do not also profit from imposing junk fees on our residents.

Madam Chair, I yield the balance of my time to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Houlahan).

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Ms. TLAIB. Madam Chair, yes, but it is surprise fees. It is hidden fees. Many of the residents outside this Chamber would disagree.

I think it is really important to understand the underlying bill amends the security laws, and the security laws are administered by the SEC. Be that as it may, it is incredibly important to understand that, of course, there are fees, but hidden fees. We are talking about hidden, surprise fees that our residents know nothing about. That is the essence of why we need this amendment.

Again, we cannot continue to allow our residents to be impacted negatively by the fact that they don't want to be transparent. They want to hide these fees. They don't want us to know exactly what they are charging us.

So, again, I think it is incredibly important.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. TLAIB. Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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