Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Ranking Member Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) along with all Republican Members of the House Committee on Small Business and penned a letter to Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler. This letter received support from over 91 advocacy organizations, think tanks, and companies. Below are statements of support from several of these organizations on the letter directed to the SEC.

“Farmers and ranchers are committed to feeding America’s families while protecting the resources they’ve been entrusted with. We’re doing this through voluntary, market-driven incentives, but this proposed rule threatens that progress.  Family farms don’t have teams of compliance officers and attorneys to respond to Wall Street. Higher costs could keep small farms from doing business with publicly traded companies, which could lead to more consolidation and fewer farmers at a time when the world is increasingly calling on rural America to meet the needs of hungry families,” said Zippy Duvall, President, American Farm Bureau Federation.

“The SEC’s climate disclosure rule is another example of the Biden administration unlawfully using the executive branch to write public policy. Not only will this rule impose billions of dollars of compliance costs on public companies, but it will also force small private businesses to bear the burden of greenhouse gas disclosures along the supply chain,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform… This rule comes at a time when Senate Democrats are planning to introduce a bill that includes a $252 billion tax increase on one million small businesses. I am proud to support Ranking Member Luetkemeyer and the House Committee on Small Business for taking charge of this issue and calling for the immediate recission of this rule in order to protect American small businesses,” said Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform.

“Arizona Farm Bureau represents 2,300 family farmers and ranchers throughout our state who are committed to producing a safe and reliable food supply. For decades, they have invested their limited resources in practices that conserve soil and water on the farm and ranch. It is absurd that they be expected to divert those limited financial resources from the land to comply with overly burdensome and costly SEC reporting. This is how family farms go out of business,” said Stefanie Smallhouse, President, Arizona Farm Bureau.

“The Independent Community Banks of North Dakota (ICBND) applauds Representative Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosure rule as the burden of compliance would fall disproportionally on publicly traded community banks and their small business customers, many of which are privately owned. The SEC should rescind this flawed proposal,” said Barry D. Haugen, President, Independent Community Banks of North Dakota.

“The Community Bankers Association of Georgia applauds Representative Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosure rule as the burden of compliance would fall disproportionally on publicly traded community banks and their small business customers, many of which are privately owned. The SEC should rescind this flawed proposal,” said John McNair, President and Chief Executive Officer, Community Bankers Association of Georgia.

“The Community Bankers of Michigan applaud Representative Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosure rule as the burden of compliance would fall disproportionally on publicly traded community banks and their small business customers, many of which are privately owned. The SEC should rescind this flawed proposal,” said Michael J. Tierney, President and CEO, Community Bankers of Michigan.

“The Community Bankers Association of Oklahoma representing over 100 locally owned community banks chartered and domiciled within the state of Oklahoma, express extreme appreciation to Representative Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosure rule as the burden of compliance would fall disproportionally on publicly traded community banks and their small business customers, many of which are privately owned. The SEC should rescind this flawed proposal,” said Craig Buford, President and CEO, Community Bankers Association of Oklahoma.

“The Community Bankers Association of Ohio applaud Representative Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosure rule as the burden of compliance would fall disproportionally on publicly traded community banks and their small business customers, many of which are privately owned. The SEC should rescind this flawed proposal,” said Aza H. Bittinger Jr., President and CEO, Community Bankers Association of Ohio.

“Community Bankers of West Virginia applaud Representative Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosure rule as the burden of compliance would fall disproportionally on publicly traded community banks and their small business customers, many of which are privately owned. The SEC should rescind this flawed proposal,” said Ryan Gilkerson, Executive Director, Community Bankers of West Virginia.

“On behalf of FreedomWorks' grassroots community, we thank Ranking Member Luetkemeyer and Small Business Committee Republicans for pushing back against the SEC's radical environmental agenda. This complicated legislation-through-regulation proposal will saddle companies with billions in new costs and facilitate the Left's effort to destroy America's oil and gas industry,” said Adam Brandon, President, FreedomWorks.

“While our economy is currently experiencing record-setting inflation and heading towards a recession, the SEC has chosen to focus its attention on pandering to climate change alarmists on the Left. The SEC’s actions have exceeded its authority and will only serve to place new burdens on small businesses. Knowing this, we applaud Ranking Member Luetkemeyer for his efforts to prevent this rule from ever coming to fruition,” said Garrett Bess, Vice President, Heritage Action.

“Climate reporting mandates, such as those proposed by the SEC, will have a detrimental effect on our nation’s family farms and ranches. Producers are already implementing the best environmental practices that exist today. We thank those legislators who are working to push back on this overbearing proposed rule,” said Bryan Searle, President, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation.

“The Independent Community Bankers of America strongly supports Ranking Member Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosures for investors. As ICBA has told the agency, its proposal would impose staggering and unprecedented costs on community banks and their customers, would effectively prohibit community banks from participating in the public capital markets, and would harm the local communities they serve,” said Rebeca Romero Rainey, President and CEO, Independent Community Bankers of America.

“The Independent Banks of South Carolina applaud Representative Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosure rule as the burden of compliance would fall disproportionally on publicly traded community banks and their small business customers, many of which are privately owned. The SEC should rescind this flawed proposal,” said Teresa D. Taylor, Executive Director, Independent Banks of South Carolina.

“The Independent Community Bankers of South Dakota applaud Representative Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosure rule as the burden of compliance would fall disproportionally on publicly traded community banks and their small business customers, many of which are privately owned. The SEC should rescind this flawed proposal,” said Megan R. Olson, President and CEO, Independent Community Bankers of South Dakota.

“The Independent Bankers Association of Texas, representing over 300 community banks in Texas, is in complete agreement with the letter submitted by Ranking Member Luetkemeyer and members of the Small Business Committee regarding the SEC’s troubling proposal on climate disclosure. In addition to our concerns of an ever-increasing level of regulatory burden on our publicly traded banks, the points made in the letter regarding the unintended consequences of additional and costly burdens on small business borrowers are spot on. Our strong preference is for the SEC to withdraw this ill-conceived proposal, and allow our community banks to efficiently and effectively serve their customers and communities,” said the Independent Bankers Association of Texas.

“The Independent Community Bankers of Minnesota offer our strong support of Representative Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosure rule,” said Jim Amundson, President and CEO, Independent Community Bankers of Minnesota.

“The SEC’s proposed rule would be an unnecessary and costly burden on America’s small businesses, at a time when we’re already struggling with ‘Bideninflation,’ higher interest rates, a supply chain crisis, a national worker shortage, and many other problems caused by the Democrats’ Big Government policies.  Job Creators Network thanks Ranking Member Luetkemeyer and the Republicans on the House Small Business Committee for spearheading the fight against the SEC’s proposed rule and urging the SEC to reverse it,” said Alfredo Ortiz, President and CEO, Job Creators Network.

“It’s difficult to gauge how costly and time-consuming the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposal to require publicly-traded Kansas banks to disclose enhanced climate information will be for those banks and the thousands of farm and small business customers they serve. Kansas banks and businesses are already facing significant headwinds caused by inflation, ever-increasing regulations and dramatically rising cyber-security costs.  Now is not the time to enact disclosure requirements that at best will add to the expense side of the ledger for banks and their business customers, and at worse restrict or discourage access to capital for farmers and small businesses,” said Doug Wareham, President & CEO, Kansas Bankers Association.

“As recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 30, 2022 in West Virginia et al. v. EPA, agencies are created with limited statutory authority.  The Kentucky Bankers Association was distressed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission propose a rule which seemed to stretch it’s arguable authority by requiring publicly traded companies to disclose direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, resulting in unexpected and uncalculatable expenses on small businesses and financial institutions. On behalf of the bankers of Kentucky, we are pleased to see Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer address this issue directly, seeking explanation for the need of such a proposal,” said Ballard W Cassady Jr., President/CEO, Kentucky Bankers Association.

“The SEC’s proposal is yet another example of a federal regulator acting outside its authority and demonstrating a lack of understanding of the end-result of their policies. It will place expensive and undue burdens on the thousands of small Texas businesses involved in energy production and the publicly-traded banks—to include publicly-traded community banks—that provide financing for them.  The rule will increase the costs of energy for consumers at a time when many are struggling to pay their bills,” said Chris Furlow, President & CEO, Texas Bankers Association.

“The American Financial Services Association (AFSA) supports Ranking Member Luetkemeyer (R, MO-03) and Small Business Committee Republican Members calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to rescind The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors proposed rule. As Representative Luetkemeyer writes, the wide reach of the proposed rule would burden small businesses and the financial institutions which support them and as ‘the U.S. economy struggles to recover, unleashing a devastating and an unrealistic climate disclosure regime that goes well beyond the publicly traded companies, impacting nearly every small business, is irresponsible.’  AFSA appreciates the work of Ranking Member Luetkemeyer to protect small businesses from overly burdensome reporting requirements,” said The American Financial Services Association (AFSA).

“The Truck Renting and Leasing Association applauds Ranking Member Luetkemeyer for his leadership in supporting businesses that would be impacted by the SEC’s climate disclosure proposal.  This rule would negatively effect nearly all of our 475 member companies as well as the millions of small businesses across the country they serve.  While our industry copes with unprecedented inflation and supply chain disruptions, this rule would simply add to the difficulties facing our industry,” said Jake Jacoby, President & CEO, Truck Renting and Leasing Association.

“We applaud Ranking Member Luetkemeyer and the Republican Small Business Committee members’ letter to SEC Chairman Gensler, urging him to rescind the proposed rule mandating climate related disclosures for publicly traded companies.  The SEC’s proposed rule is an egregious regulatory overreach by the Biden administration that will give them unprecedented power over all our lives and businesses.  Missouri Farm Bureau is greatly concerned that the proposed rule will force burdensome and expensive new reporting requirements on our farmers and ranchers and create a host of concerns about confidentiality of private data.  The SEC should get off the farm and scrap this rule entirely,” said Garrett Hawkins, President, Missouri Farm Bureau.

“As the SEC proposes expanding its reach into private, small, and downstream businesses, NFIB appreciates Congressman Luetkemeyer pushing back the against increased regulatory burdens. Small and independent businesses cannot afford the burden and expense of tracking and reporting climate-related information. And, unlike larger businesses, small and independent businesses cannot afford the experts, accountants, and lawyers needed to comply with government reporting regimes; regulatory compliance often is a do-it-yourself project for an already overburdened small business owner,” said Kevin Kuhlman, Vice President of Federal Government Relations, National Federation of Independent Business.

“Ranking Member Luetkemeyer has everyday Americans’ interests at heart when he criticizes the SEC’s decision to compel American businesses to disclose enhanced climate-related information, a decision that would impose significant burdens on small businesses across the country. NTU continues to oppose regulatory overreach especially, at such a critical time for our economy,” said Alex Milliken, Policy and Government Affairs Manager, National Taxpayers Union.

“We thank Congressman Luetkemeyer for his leadership on this issue and his request to stop this proposed rule. The SEC proposal creates a perverse incentive for companies to centralize all supply chain products in the attempt to accurately track data, at a time when less-centralized and more locally driven food is considered to be a way to combat climate change.  Restaurants are fundamentally local operations, and using regional products makes both financial sense and reduces their environmental footprint. The SEC must reconsider the rule as it can severely hurt small business suppliers who are unable to comply with the data collection requirement,” said the National Restaurant Association.

“We thank Ranking Member Luetkemeyer and his colleagues on the House Small Business Committee for speaking up about the burdens the SEC’s climate-related disclosure rule would create for small-business, including truckers. There’s truly no telling how far-reaching this rule would be. If implemented as proposed, truckers would potentially have to track detailed emissions information and coordinate reporting with the multiple businesses they work with. We hope the SEC will reconsider its proposal and recognize that it will have an enormous impact on all businesses, not just publicly traded companies,” said Todd Spencer, President and CEO, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

“The proposed Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors rule by the SEC poses a threat to our farmers who have large or small operations because we are in a time where they are facing labor shortages and historic inflation. While Pennsylvania Farm Bureau members are not directly impacted by the rule, farmers are the starting point for many publicly traded companies and their supply chain. Therefore, farms would be tasked with tracking their greenhouse gas emissions at a time when making a profit to feed America gets harder everyday due to economic pressures. Farm Bureau has compliance, privacy, and liability concerns in addition to the potential of SEC overreach of Congress to implement the rule,” said Rick Ebert, President, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

“In the end, the only thing the SEC’s unworkable and ill-timed climate disclosure rule would effectively disclose – if implemented – would be its crushing burden on small businesses. America’s economy and our workers can’t afford these types of complex bureaucratic exploits. SBE Council is grateful for Rep. Luetkemeyer’s leadership in calling for the rescission of the SEC’s climate-disclosure rule. Small businesses need tax and regulatory relief, more access to capital, and an economic and policy climate that supports their risk-taking. The proposed rule works against what they need to survive and thrive,” said Karen Kerrigan, president & CEO, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.

“The SEC’s proposed rule would hit small businesses with big regulatory burdens by using big businesses as a proxy regulator. This is trickle down regulation. The SEC should be making it easier for small businesses to receive investment, not make it more painful for trying to grow,” said Brett Palmer, President, Small Business Investor Alliance.

“The Virginia Association of Community Banks applauds Representative Luetkemeyer’s call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its proposed climate-related disclosure rule as the burden of compliance would fall disproportionally on publicly traded community banks and their small business customers, many of which are privately owned. The SEC should rescind this flawed proposal,” said Steven C. Yeakel, President and CEO, Virginia Association of Community Banks.

“Proposed rules like this have been causing concerns in Wyoming, particularly with legislators, regarding the impact of climate disclosures on financing requirements for local businesses,” said the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation.

Background:

On July 21, 2022, Ranking Member Luetkemeyer sent a letter to U.S. Securities Exchange Commission Chairman, Gary Gensler, raising concern with the SEC’s Burdensome Greenhouse Gas Disclosure Requirements on Small Businesses and called for the repeal of the rule.

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