Congressman Gregory W. Meeks Joins Congressman Tom Feeney As Lead Sponsors Of The COMPETE ACT

(WASHINGTON, DC)Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY) joined with Representatives Tom Feeney (R-Florida) and Pete Sessions (R- Texas) to introduce the COMPETE Act. The purpose of the bill is to make improvements to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that was passed in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals. The COMPETE ACT which stands for Competitive and Open Markets that Protect and Enhance the Treatment of Entrepreneurs Act is designed to reduce some of the financial burdens that have been put on small businesses as a part of attesting to the soundness of their internal control functions.

Mr. Meeks has been working with Mr. Feeney, Mr. Sessions and other Members of Congress on a listening tour companies affected by Sarbanes-Oxley. The listening tour has included visits to the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, and the three Chicago Exchanges.

Mr. Meeks stated, Sarbanes-Oxley has been good for increasing transparency, improving the functioning of Boards, and having companies strengthen their internal controls. However, the costs have been more burdensome then we expected. We hope this bill will provide relief to small businesses.