‘National Security Means Standing Up To Russia’ Nunn Slams Yellen: Not Burning 'Small Businesses'

2 months ago

On Tuesday, Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) questioned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about small business policy during a House Financial Services Committee.

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Transcript

00:00The gentleman from Iowa, Mr. Nunn, is recognized for five minutes.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Madam Secretary, for being with us today.

00:08I want to highlight, I think we all agree that national security is at top of the list,

00:12certainly at Treasury and here in Congress as well. National security means

00:16standing up to Russia, China, Iran.

00:20It's not about overly burdening small businesses in my home state of Iowa.

00:24So let's get started today. I want to thank Secretary Yellen.

00:28My home state has 270,000 small businesses.

00:32In fact, it makes up 99% of our businesses in Iowa.

00:36And they're facing a tremendous amount of paperwork coming largely from

00:40the Treasury, which is why we invited Director Gecki to come out and hear

00:44directly from Iowans. She did a great job, but she also got an earful.

00:48She heard and admitted that FinCEN has alerted only

00:522 million of more than 3.2 million small

00:56businesses of their obligations to be able to fill out

01:00beneficial ownership. That is an abysmal number, particularly when

01:04we have less than six months left in your timeline to help be able to execute.

01:08So here's my ask today, Madam Secretary. Would you

01:12support our bipartisan Small Business Red Tape Relief Act,

01:16which would extend the deadline for small businesses

01:20to be able to be compliant with Treasury?

01:24FinCEN has 2.7 million reports so far,

01:28and they are engaging in a very

01:32extensive outreach and education effort,

01:36and it's their judgment that

01:40it's not necessary to extend the deadline.

01:44Madam Secretary, I appreciate that. Let me share with you what was delivered directly to

01:48Ms. Gecki. The very fact that we have only alerted 2 million

01:52of more than 30 million is harmful.

01:56If they fail to meet it in the next six months, it will be $500 a day to

02:00small businesses. We're not going after the bad guys. We're going after small businesses in Iowa.

02:04I would ask you, as the Treasury, extend

02:08this deadline and work on a bipartisan level with us to make sure that our

02:12small businesses are taken care of. I hope you hear me on that.

02:16Look, we're not trying to go after small

02:20businesses that do the best

02:24to meet their responsibilities. Most of them don't know what their responsibilities

02:28are because they've not been informed by FinCEN at this point.

02:32The CTA penalizes willful

02:36violations of the law, and we're not looking to

02:40take some sort of gotcha enforcement actions

02:44against small businesses. I certainly hope that's the case, because my

02:48folks back home see a $500 fine per day as a pretty not only

02:52gotcha, but as a very painful impact. So in that vein of

02:56setting deadlines, one of the things I would ask Treasury is

03:00will Treasury be able to meet their November 1st, 2024

03:04rulemaking deadline on 45Z, the clean fuel production credit?

03:12They're working. This is the successor

03:16to the sustainable fuels. That's correct.

03:20So that's something that Treasury is working on.

03:24I can't give you an exact...

03:28I hope you meet your deadline, Madam Secretary, because you've laid out a very strict

03:32$500 a day deadline for small businesses in Iowa that work largely

03:36in renewable fuels. I hope that Treasury can meet its own deadline

03:40that you've laid out of November 1st. I'd like to change briefly now to Iranian

03:44illicit oil sales. I think we've all seen the threat in the Middle East,

03:48both what it's done for Hamas, Hezbollah, the IRGC. Americans have died.

03:52Americans are still in the firing line. Treasury's the lead for sanctions.

03:56Can you tell us today, are there any U.S.-based firms

04:00providing insurance to Iran's illicit ghost fleet of oil

04:04tanker ships?

04:08I can't speak to

04:12particular entities. What I can say

04:16is that we are working

04:20to crack down... Let me give you what the New York Times has, Madam Secretary.

04:24A list of 27 tankers currently

04:28supporting the illicit sale of oil from Iran

04:32to some of our worst adversaries. General Michael Carrillo

04:36of CENTCOM noted that Iran continues to sell 90% of its oil directly to China

04:40and fund a terrorist war in his AOR as a result of this.

04:44I have asked five times now for Treasury to be able to

04:48find a list, both in the classified and unclassified versions, of how we are

04:52cracking down on insurance violators here in the United States.

04:56Are we going to be able to do anything, or are you going to be able to have an answer for us

05:00on the insurance companies here, domestically based, that are providing insurance

05:04to a terrorist regime? Most of the insurance

05:08companies that I'm aware of that do this are outside

05:12the United States. But there are ones here in the United States you would agree?

05:16But I'm not able to comment on specifics.

05:20I would like a follow-up. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield my time.

‘National Security Means Standing Up To Russia’ Nunn Slams Yellen: Not Burning 'Small Businesses'

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