Profile in Courage: Rep. Patrick McHenry

Most of the time, it is all too easy to guess a lawmaker’s stance on any given issue by looking at the letter next to their name. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) defies conventional partisan politics, choosing instead to tackle the big issues of the day his way. He worked across the aisle to ensure that more entrepreneurs had access to the capital needed to deliver on the next big idea through reforms to the crowdfunding regulatory process. Now, he’s facing one of the biggest policy battles of his career. The lawmaker has rightly been critical of attempts by the Biden administration to mandate that companies disclose their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment strategies, and has assailed bureaucrats for overstepping their bounds. Rep. McHenry has also pushed back against his Republican colleagues attempts to penalize businesses simply for making environmentally conscious investments. And, for having the courage and bravery to stake a rare, reasonable position on this pressing policy issue, Rep. McHenry is a Profile in Courage.

Rep. McHenry has served through his fair share of presidential administrations and Congresses. Even before coming to Congress, he served as a special assistant to the U.S. secretary of Labor in the Bush administration. By working on early efforts by the Bush administration to streamline and clarify overtime rules and strengthen whistleblower protections, Rep. McHenry learned the value of an efficient, responsive federal government. The lawmaker was first elected in 2004 at age 29 and has since been re-elected an astounding nine times. Rep. McHenry earned the trust of his constituents by striving to stay above the partisan fray and work on real solutions that would benefit the households and businesses of his district. In 2011, he introduced the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, which proposed allowing people to invest equity in start-ups through crowdfunding without having to deal with onerous Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules. Rep. McHenry’s sensible reform was ultimately rolled into the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act and signed into law by former President Obama in 2012. While the reforms were undermined by the Washington legislative process, the new status-quo is surely an improvement for millions of investors and entrepreneurs.

But, federal agencies such as the SEC can only be held in check for so long. In 2022, the SEC proposed new rules that would require public companies to disclose a wealth of data related to climate risks and investments. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance, and 16 other watchdog groups, criticized the proposal in a letter to the SEC, pointing out that the “reform” exceeded the scope of the commission’s authority and would cost businesses up to $640,000. Rep. McHenry also weighed in, slamming the Biden administration for, “pushing its climate agenda through financial regulators because they don’t have the votes to pass it in Congress.”

As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, the lawmaker has signaled that he’ll apply close oversight to the SEC rulemaking process. Unlike some of his colleagues, Rep. McHenry is not interested in punishing companies for their ESG-related investments. His role is keeping bureaucracy and red tape under control, not bossing around or boycotting companies based on whether they’ve made the “right” investment choices. This perspective is a valuable one, as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle increasingly attempt to harass companies they don’t like. Whether Rep. McHenry’s efforts to walk a fine line will make him a pariah among Republicans remains to be seen. But, no matter the outcome, Rep. McHenry is courageous for sticking to his beliefs and holding agencies such as the SEC accountable. For being a rare voice of reason in an overcharged, hyper-partisan environment, Rep. Patrick McHenry is certainly a Profile in Courage.