Representative David Schweikert, a Republican from Arizona, has issued the following statement on the House floor today expressing disappointment with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed rules to implement the bi-partisan Crowdfunding provisions of the Jump Start Our Business Startups or JOBS Act which was signed into law by President Obama in 2012:
“The SEC took a year and 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. This is the law –this handful of pages–six or seven pages– is the crowdfunding portion of the JOBS Act. And here is the 550 page proposed rule set.
If we’re in a world where we have crushing debt screaming toward us and some of that is coming because of what we’re being told is the new normal of a 2% GDP growth outlook, we need to be doing things that accelerate economic growth or we’re in incredible trouble.
So as a House –bipartisan, we passed the JOBS act, which was one of the little increments that was supposed to help grow the economy. And then the bureaucracy sends us rules that make it almost impossible to use.”
Congressman Schweikert is encouraging interested parties to submit their comments to the SEC during the 90-day comment period that began October 23, 2013. Comments can be submitted using the online form on the SEC web site.
Schweikert continued his plea asking for support in pushing the SEC forward;
“Please go online, make comments. Help them understand this is supposed to be helping the next generation of small entrepreneurs in this country. Don’t make it 550 pages of bureaucratic legalese. It can be simpler . . . We can do great things in this country –but we can’t do it if the bureaucracy continues to crush our opportunities.”
Schweikert was a leading sponsor of the law and has spoken previously in support of the legislation which legalizes crowdfunding.
