[Pages H599-H601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     PROTECT SMALL BUSINESSES FROM EXCESSIVE PAPERWORK ACT OF 2025

  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 736) to amend title 31, United States Code, to 
modify the deadline for filing beneficial ownership information reports 
for reporting companies formed or registered before January 1, 2024.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 736

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Protect Small Businesses 
     from Excessive Paperwork Act of 2025''.

     SEC. 2. MODIFICATION TO FILING DEADLINE FOR CERTAIN PRE-
                   EXISTING REPORTING COMPANIES.

       Section 5336(b)(1)(B) of title 31, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking ``before the effective date of the 
     regulations prescribed under this subsection shall, in a 
     timely manner, and not later than 2 years after the effective 
     date of the regulations prescribed under this subsection,'' 
     and inserting ``before January 1, 2024, shall, not later than 
     January 1, 2026,''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hill) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Vargas) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arkansas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 736, the Protect Small 
Businesses from Excessive Paperwork Act. I thank Representative Nunn of 
Iowa for his work on this important legislation.
  In 2021, Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act, known as the 
CTA. The goal of the CTA was to strengthen national security tools to 
target bad actors and nation-states attempting to launder money through 
illicit activities. To accomplish this, the CTA established the 
beneficial ownership information reporting regime through Treasury's 
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known across the country as 
FinCEN.
  With an effective date of January 1, 2024, the CTA regulations 
required roughly 32,600,000 small businesses in the United States to 
report their beneficial ownership information to FinCEN by the 
following year. To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Speaker, only some 9 
million, or one-third, of those required small businesses have filed.
  Recent Federal court actions on this confusing and complex rule have 
just added to the confusion that many of our Members are hearing about 
from their constituents in their districts.
  Although this law was enacted with good intentions, Treasury's 
promulgation and implementation of the new reporting regime has been 
overly complex and particularly burdensome. Over the last year, Members 
have heard consistently from their constituents that confusion reigns 
when it comes to beneficial ownership reporting requirements.
  We have all heard not only from small businesses that are in the real 
estate business or some small operating businesses that have a limited 
liability company or a limited partnership, but we have heard from 
their CPAs, their certified public accountants, and their legal 
advisers about all the confusion and concern around these reporting 
requirements.
  It does not help that many small businesses have no idea what FinCEN 
is, making them wary of submitting such sensitive data to a government 
agency with which they are not familiar. It is personally identifiable 
information, the most sensitive information we have: our name, our 
taxpayer ID number, and ownership of our companies.
  That is why Congressman Nunn's bill provides a 1-year extension of 
the reporting deadline, which will allow FinCEN to address gaps in its 
nationwide education campaign and tailor its outreach to small business 
owners.
  This extension ensures that all small business owners that qualify 
and are required, as beneficial owners, to report have adequate time to 
try to complete their reporting requirements, while here in Congress we 
continue to fight back against this particular rule and its structure. 
Otherwise, Mr. Speaker, these small business owners face aggressive 
penalties if they fail to report, even if it is unintentional.
  Small businesses in this country are the backbone of our economy. I 
hear that said many times every week on this House floor. If that is 
true, we ought to be working together to get relief for them from this 
onerous rule. I commend Mr. Nunn for offering relief with this 
particular legislation.
  I want to highlight the work of my Republican colleagues for their 
cosponsorship of this critical legislation and thank my friends on the 
other side of the aisle, the gentlewoman from Kansas (Ms. Davids) and 
the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Davis), for signing on to H.R. 
736. I hope they will help us get this legislation over the finish line 
to benefit America's small businesses, even if it is in a moment of 
reprieve from the avalanche of rules.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting Mr. 
Nunn's bill, H.R. 736, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, despite the ill-named bill, I rise in support of H.R. 
736, the Protect Small Businesses from Excessive Paperwork Act, 
sponsored by Representative Nunn.
  This bill extends the deadline for existing reporting companies under 
the Corporate Transparency Act, an essential piece of national security 
legislation designed to help law enforcement, financial institutions, 
and others root out the anonymous shell companies that are so often 
abused by domestic and foreign oligarchs, drug dealers, and terrorists 
to launder and hide their illicit funds.
  Extending the reporting deadline gives businesses extra time to 
comply with the law and additional time for the U.S. Treasury to do the 
vital outreach needed to raise awareness among applicable 
businessowners.
  I appreciate that Representative Nunn and Chairman Hill have chosen 
to offer this bill on the floor today, especially given the broad 
support for issuing this extension within our committee, but I have to 
say, given where things stand with the Trump administration, these 
concerns fall a little flat.
  Since the inauguration, President Trump has disbanded Task Force 
KleptoCapture, which was designed to identify and pursue illicit 
Russian funds. He has declared that he will no longer prosecute most 
foreign corruption cases. President Trump has fired hundreds of bank 
examiners, who are responsible for ensuring that financial institutions 
are keeping up with their obligations to detect and report possible 
instances of financial crime. He shuttered the Consumer 
Financial Protection Bureau, which has returned $21 billion to 
defrauded Americans. Further, he and his GOP have fired criminal 
investigators at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal 
Revenue Service and prosecutors at the Department of Justice. He 
himself has offered cryptocurrency products that can be purchased 
without any verifiable identification, undercutting the very financial 
crime-fighting agencies that the CTA intends to bolster.

  Yes, I urge Members to vote for this bill, though it has little 
meaning if my GOP colleagues remain silent as President Trump 
dismantles the national security and law enforcement capacity of the 
U.S. Government.
  Also, it is ironic that I hear my good friend from Arkansas talk 
about the most sensitive, vital information that

[[Page H600]]

we have, our personally identifiable information, and at this moment, 
we don't even know who has access to it.
  That is one of the things that angers most Americans. They don't know 
what Elon Musk is doing with this information or which young kid is 
running through these organizations getting that information and for 
what purpose they are using it.
  Rome is burning, and my colleagues across the aisle need to stop 
fiddling and pick up the fire extinguisher.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman 
from Iowa (Mr. Nunn), the lead sponsor who has crafted this 
constructive bill.
  Mr. NUNN of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues from both 
Arkansas and California for their support of my bill, the Protect Small 
Businesses from Excessive Paperwork Act.
  Mr. Speaker, in just the opening weeks of Congress, we have already 
led on bipartisan solutions to help our small businesses be successful 
and get a reprieve from the vast overreach that currently emanates from 
Washington, D.C.
  Small businesses, as we have noted, are the backbone of America. In 
my home State, they make up nearly 80 percent of our State's growth 
alone.
  Sadly, there are bureaucrats here in Washington who are focused on 
fines, fees, and prison time for nearly 32 million small businesses 
that only woke up to new regulations just showing up on the scene. 
Unfortunately, nearly 23 million of those small businesses have never 
even heard or received information about the new requirements that they 
must meet. In fact, some even mistook them for scams coming out of a 
Federal agency they have never even heard of.
  Small businesses should not bear the risk of fines of up to $600 per 
day for every violation and up to nearly 24 months in prison for 
failure to report on a law they weren't even familiar with.
  In the first year alone, it will cost a small business around $8,000 
in compliance fees. That blows my mind. In fact, it compelled me to 
invite the Director under the Biden administration of FinCEN, Director 
Gacki, to come to Iowa. Yes, we were Iowa nice to her, but we were Iowa 
firm. She heard from Sonrisers Popcorn and Berg Electric, which told 
her how much these new requirements would directly impact their Main 
Street businesses.
  To make matters worse, she informed them with a straight face that 
over 7 million businesses had already complied. This was with only 
weeks before final implementation went into effect. To be clear, this 
meant that around 80 percent of the small businesses remained 
completely unaware of the new rules and regulations and risked those 
fines I mentioned.
  With 99 percent of Iowa's businesses being small businesses, those 
fines would add up and shutter Main Streets across my community and 
this country. Nationally, it would total around $160 billion in 
compliance costs levied upon Main Street businesses, small family 
farms, and communities across our country.
  I think we can all agree that regulators should be focused on 
protecting small businesses, not fining them out of existence.
  Keeping a small business open requires that a mom-and-pop shop put in 
a lot of hard work and long hours. It means that new entrepreneurs can 
be innovative and spend money to grow our economy, not trying to meet 
some arbitrary government regulation. Our government should not stifle 
entrepreneurs with a heavy hand when they are only doing their best to 
serve our communities.

                              {time}  1700

  That is why I am committed to fighting for Main Street. I am 
committed to fighting for our family farms. I am committed to fighting 
for our hometowns.
  This bill would help protect small businesses from excessive 
paperwork. This is a simple solution that we worked on together, and it 
is one of the most pressing concerns that small businesses face.
  Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, we all have small 
businesses and a hometown responsibility to fight for them today.
  I am grateful for everyone who helped to lead and sponsor this bill, 
including the National Small Business Association, the U.S. Chamber of 
Commerce, and our National Cattlemen's Association. Even cowboys want 
less regulation.
  I also thank our cosponsors on this bill, including our co-leads, 
House Majority Whip   Tom Emmer, and my friends across the aisle, 
Representative Sharice Davids and Representative Don Davis.
  As a result, we have the opportunity to once again make sure that not 
only America is great but that our hometowns have the opportunity to 
prosper and hold Washington accountable.
  Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I am prepared to 
close if the gentleman from Arkansas has no further speakers, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser).
  Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Speaker, I once again thank Chairman Hill for his 
leadership. I do, as well, rise today in strong support of the Protect 
Small Businesses from Excessive Paperwork Act of 2025, H.R. 736, 
introduced by my colleague, Congressman Nunn.
  Small businesses create jobs, drive innovation, support local 
communities, and really make the difference in communities. 
Unfortunately, the previous administration imposed many duplicative and 
costly regulations on small businesses simply to make it harder for 
them to survive. One of the latest and most egregious examples is the 
FinCEN beneficial ownership information reporting rule, which we are 
all very aware of at this point. This rule literally forces millions of 
small businesses that have less than 20 employees and under $5 million 
in revenue to file redundant, intrusive, and unnecessary reports to the 
Federal Government under the threat of very steep penalties of up to 
$10,000.
  H.R. 736 rightfully delays the beneficial ownership reporting rule 1 
year, to 2026, giving the Trump administration and the courts time to 
assess the proper path forward for small businesses. Actually, this 
reporting information can provide some usefulness as opposed to just a 
great burden.
  Republicans received a mandate to cut the red tape and push back 
against unnecessary, punitive regulations--and we are going to do it--
that do more harm than good.
  Mr. Speaker, again, I thank Chairman Hill and Representative Nunn for 
prioritizing this much-needed relief for small businesses. Small 
businesses need our support, not our red tape and bureaucratic demands 
for unnecessary, nonsensical information.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that you note the comment made 
by Mr. Meuser on the subject of 20 employees or $5 million. The 
definition of this bill says that a small business that has to report, 
these 32-plus million businesses that we are talking about, the 
definition is that they have fewer than 20 employees and fewer than $5 
million.
  My friend from California rightfully said that the concern of the 
Federal Government is about illicit finance through the use of shell 
companies incorporated in one of our States. Let that sink in for 
everybody listening to this debate: $5 million in revenues, 20 
employees.
  Mr. Speaker, for decades, before I came to Congress a few years ago, 
I helped start businesses and helped finance businesses, all of which 
would dream to have $5 million in annual revenues and 20 employees.
  Think about your best friend who has an HVAC contracting company to 
help people with their air-conditioning and heating. He works there. 
His son works for him. They have a couple of million dollars in 
revenue. It is his whole livelihood. He loves it. He is the best at 
what he does, but in this world, in this House, he is accused of being 
a shell company and is being burdened by this rule.
  Once again, so many times the government goes after the bad guy and 
sweeps up everybody. That is why Mr. Nunn has come to this floor to say 
that we need another year to think about

[[Page H601]]

this. I would certainly urge the incoming administration to rethink the 
whole process because Mr. Vargas is right: It is an important thing to 
do, to try to capture illicit finance, but it is another thing in the 
world to sweep up every American trying to live the American Dream with 
their own small business.
  We want people who want $5 million in revenue and have 20 employees. 
What a joy.
  We are united on this today, Mr. Speaker, and I think that is good 
for the American people to see, too, that we care about what is 
happening. Occasionally, we get it wrong in government, and we work 
hard to try to rectify it. That is what Zach Nunn of Iowa is fighting 
for small businesses to do.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Haridopolos), the committee whip.
  Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for bringing this 
to the floor and my colleagues across the aisle for working together on 
this important bill. It is great that common sense is making a comeback 
in America.
  I applaud the sponsor of the bill, Mr. Nunn of Iowa. He has done a 
remarkable job of bringing this to the forefront as people recognize 
the impact that burdensome paperwork can have on our American economy.

  In recent years, the previous administration imposed complex and 
costly beneficial ownership requirements, backed by the threat of civil 
and criminal penalties. Compliance could cost up to $8,000 per year, 
and little was done by the Treasury Department to communicate those 
requirements to businessowners.
  As a result, with little clarity and even less time to comply, over 
30 million small businesses are now facing the risk of thousands of 
dollars in fines and potentially years behind bars if egregious.
  Why are we making criminal suspects out of businessowners? American 
businesses already file a considerable amount of paperwork to ensure 
that money launderers and bad actors are unable to operate through 
shell corporations, as the chairman highlighted.
  Why are millions of American small businesses now forced to file 
these regulations when they have already been burdened by so much extra 
paperwork?
  This extension will also give our new Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. 
Bessent, the time to apply common sense in helping small businesses 
meet these reporting requirements.
  This bill is a strong start to reduce the immense regulatory burden 
that America's small businesses face each day, and it protects 
businessowners from unjust criminal liability.
  Let's pass this bill and get back to common sense.
  Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, the Corporate Transparency Act has been called the most 
important improvement to the U.S. anti-money laundering framework in a 
generation. To both effectively enact the law and to assist companies 
whose reporting is essential to fight against oligarchs and criminal 
cartels, we need the extension provided by this bill.
  As my good friend from Arkansas said, we, too, see and hear small 
businesses and businessowners. In fact, California has the largest 
number of small businesses in the United States. We don't want them to 
get swept up in the Corporate Transparency Act, but at the same time, 
we also need the ability to identify, investigate, and prosecute the 
bad actors.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to stand up and speak out 
against what we are seeing today, unfortunately, which is President 
Trump's vengeful and self-interested destruction of our American 
national security, and to demand that we get information on how Elon 
Musk and his young marauders are using Americans' personal information.
  We want to know: What are they doing with all of this information 
that they are gathering about all of these Americans? What is he doing 
with it? We have no idea, and no one is asking questions on the other 
side.
  Again, it is important that my colleagues listen to their 
constituents right now, on both sides of the aisle. I know in my 
district, Republicans and Democrats want to know: What is going on with 
all of this information that Elon Musk is drawing out of the Federal 
Government? What is he doing with it? We have no idea. There is no 
investigation of this. We demand answers, and we think our friends on 
the other side should demand answers to this also.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  THE SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.
  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, we have had a good, robust debate on the importance of 
the right tools for the Treasury, for our States, and for our law 
enforcement to root out illicit finance.
  Today, the Corporate Transparency Act, I think, has been exposed for 
what it is, which is a tremendous overreach in that effort that has 
added complexity, financial burden, and confusion for our small 
businesses.
  There is a better way to go about this, and I hope we can work 
together on both sides of the aisle and with the Treasury Department in 
the coming months to find that better solution, that least-costly 
solution, that solution that protects people's privacy, that protects 
personally identifiable information contained in these filings, and 
that does it in a way that is less intrusive and less costly.
  The concern I have about these big databases, Mr. Speaker, is 
intrusion from China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea, our adversaries 
that every day are trying to break into the systems of the Federal 
Government and our private sector of this country to gather this 
personally identifiable information.
  We have talked about it on this House floor, Mr. Speaker: IRS, 
hacked; Office of Personnel Management, hacked; the CFPB, the Consumer 
Financial Protection Bureau databases, hacked; others, hacked; private 
sector, hacked. This is just another giant database that puts people's 
data at risk.
  Not only do I think there is a better way to do it, a less costly way 
to do it, and a more effective way to do it, but also a way to do it 
that protects people's privacy.
  I thank Mr. Nunn for working on both sides of the aisle to craft a 
way. Let's take a new look, and let's do that by approving this bill 
overwhelmingly, encouraging the Senate to do the same so that we 
protect these small businesses in the interim, over the next year, from 
this horrendous cost and confusion by rising in strong support today on 
both sides of the aisle and passing H.R. 736.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 736.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________