mr. altmire. >> thank you, mr. chairman. as i mentioned in my opening statement, one in five entrepreneurs reportedly using home equity loans for business purposes and nearly half of all small businesses relying on personal credit cards, consumers financial products provide a critical source of capital for small firms. how will your agency tailor to ensure that small businesses do not find their access unduly restricted by the new regulations. >> thank you for that question. we talk about this in a written testimony as well. there is certainly some overlap. there are some small businesses that for some periods in the life of the business do use personal credit. and we're aware of that. we want to, in fact, as we said to address that in our testimony. i think the amount of overlap varies over time. and what we are going to look to, for example, in understanding that overlap is just as an example to what extent small businesses are using credit cards designed for consumers to conduct to make payments and to what extent they ar

mr. altmire: mr. chairman, i have ask unanimous consent to modify my amendment with the text that has been placed at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the modification. the clerk: modification to amendment number 7, printed in house report number 112-173, offered by mr. altmire of pennsylvania. insert first, after the. the chair: is there objection? without objection, the amendment is modified. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. altmire: i thank the chairman. i rise today in support of an amendment, important program, at the library of congress whose sole mission is to preserve the books and documents that tell our nation's history. the library of congress, a 211-year-old institution and our national library, offers an incredible range of research, interactive programming, and innovative technologies. however most would agree that books remain the fundamental component of any library. since 1995, the library of congress has been conducting a specific preservation campai

mr. altmire. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. levitin, i wanted to follow up on a question i as to the earlier panel regarding the fact that many entrepreneurs use personal credit cards and home equity loans to finance new business ventures, many of you mentioned that in your testimony. how should in your opinion the cfpb account for the small business owners went drafting regulations, specifically for credit cards and home mortgage products? >> well, as someone who uses a small business credit card for some purchases, i think it's important to note that many small businesses use the same credit card for both business transactions and personal transactions. and so see you going and filling up your car with a tank of gas and use that car partially for business use and partially for your personal use. you want to make sure, i think you would want the same protections on that transaction because you don't know whether you don't know whether that catcher putting in the tank is going to be used for when you're driving your kids to a s

mr. altmire, is recognized for one minute. mr. altmire: mr. speaker, in the midst of one of the most contentious congressional debates in recent times, i knew just who to bring to washington to help bring people together. and it's my great honor to welcome the reverend miroslaus ste will lmaszczyk. known simply as father miro he has led the holy family parish in pennsylvania for 26 of his 36 years in the priesthood. he has received numerous awards in recognition of his public service since he first came to the united states from poland in 1986. and as testament to his poll later among his gong gation conscious congregation, mr. speaker, i'd also like to welcome the three dozen holy family parishioners who made the trip to washington along with father miro and are now seated in the gallery to witness his opening prayer today. welcome to you all. on behalf of my colleagues in the house, welcome, father miro, and congratulations on being chosen as today's guest chaplain for the u.s. house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman

mr. altmire. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. altmire: i right in support of the gosar-gibbs amendment to protect our nation's sportsmen. the army corps of engineers are not allowed to carry firearms for self-defense on their campsites and thousands of miles of trails were law enforcement is scattered. our amendment will simplify regulations for law-abiding citizens by defunding a federal regulation that bans firearms for self-defense on army corps lands. this will not change rules against bringing firearms into federal buildings, such as army corps headquarters or locks and dams. it guarantees that sportsmen are able to defend them self while they legally hunt and fish on property that the army corps owns and operates. to secret this problem in the long term, mr. gibbs and i have also introduced the recreational land self-defense act, but this amendment is a necessary first step and is supported by the national rifle association and gun owners of america. i urge my colleagues to vote yes, and i yield back the balance of my time.

mr. altmire, one minute. the chair: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. mr. altmire: mr. chairman, i rise in support of this bipartisan bill which was crafted and introduced with job creation and regulatory clarity as its top priority. the clean water act originally created a working relationship between the states and the federal government. recently that has been undermined by unnecessary intervention by the e.p.a. when the government imposes impossible standards on job creators, the entire economy suffers. businesses go through rigorous processes to receive permits from state governments to proceed with work that creates jobs and provides revenue to local governments only to be undercut at the last minute by e.p.a. regulations that do not take into account local context or economic impact. my colleagues should vote yes on this bill to prevent this further e.p.a. overreach, and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back. the gentleman from west virginia reserves. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. gibb

mr. altmire: i keep hearing my colleagues repeat the fantasy that government has banned the incandescent light bulb. they think if they say it enough it'll be true but it's not. manufacturers are not told what technology to use to produce light bulbs and consumers will be able to provide incandescent light bulbs for years to come. three american made brands of incandescent light bulbs that meet the standards are before me. they last much longer and offer substantial energy efficiency savings for consumers. hopefully, symbolic light bulb will soon go on above the heads of my colleagues to enlighten them, to let them no their rhetoric bears no relation to reality and the incandescent light bulb is here to stay who they like it or not. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. barton: i yield to mr. hultgren for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. hultgren: i rise in strong support of the bulb act because simply put, the government has no business telling my constituent what is kind of light bulbs they can use in their homes. her

mr. altmire: mr. speaker, with the clock tick, tick, ticking away towards a default on our financial obligations for the first time in american history, we need to come together to find bipartisan solutions. it's time to stop holding america's credit rating hostage. to be clear, what we face is not a possible government budget shutdown. the consequences of default would have far-reaching and long-lasting effects. the increase in interest rates resulting from a default could cost americans an additional $10 billion in borrowing costs and the loss and confidence from investors and government securities worldwide could easily send america into another recession. default is simply not an option. i support commonsense compromise solutions to dereduce our deficit and to return to balanced budgets. i hope my colleagues on both sides are ready to put the partisan politics aside and move forward with a plan to help keep america and the u.s. in good financial standing. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's t

mr. jones. i would now like to recognize ranking member altmire from pennsylvania who's going to introduce our next witness. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and it is my pleasure to introduce adam, professor at the georgetown university law center in washington, d.c. where he teaches courses in bankruptcy, commercial law and consumer finance. he has priestly served as a scholar in residence at the american bankruptcy institute and as special counsel to the congressional oversight panel supervising t.a.r.p.. before joining the georgetown faculty, the professor served as a law clerk for the u.s. court of appeals for the third circuit. the professor holds a jd from harvard law school and degrees from columbia university and harvard college. welcome, police officer leviton. >> chairman coffman, ranking member altmire and members of the committee, good afternoon. i'm a professor at georgetown university law school, my focus is on consumer finance and financial regulation. i'm also a small business owner. the consumer financial protection bureau has generally indirect connections to finance. the cfpb's juris

mr. altmire for questions. >> thank you, and i'm glad our panel brought up the subject of taxes and the burden it places on small businesses. i want to ask mr. dennis and mr. vaughn, as you are aware, currently health benefits for employees is non-taxable, and some proposals have recommended requiring employees for the first time ever to pay taxes on health care benefits. and i was wondering from mr. dennis, how would a fundamental change like that impact a small business's decision to offer health care to its workers? >> the question is really equity in the whole thing. right now we have a system where, if i'm an employer and i contribute to $1,000 or $5,000 to help my employee buy their own insurance on the market, whether it's through the exchange or whatever, there is no tax deduction -- excuse me -- no tax exclusion for the employee where if i'm paying for it, there is an exclusion. that clearly is inequitable, and really, i think in the long term, it's going to hurt smaller firms and their ability to provide this sort of thing is the fundamental inequity involved. you're not asking about