Mike Levin: “My amendment, which is at the desk, would direct the independent accounting standards board to review the accounting…”

“My amendment, which is at the desk, would direct the independent accounting standards board to review the accounting rule on stock options and adopt an appropriate rule within 1 year. It should not be necessary to seek unanimous consent. The whole purpose of our postcloture rules is to allow those of us who have germane amendments such as this one to offer that amendment, to have it voted on. It is a frustration of the clear intent of our rules to not allow germane amendments to be voted on after cloture is invoked. When cloture was invoked, I had pending an amendment which would have given the Securities and Exchange Commission greater powers to impose civil fines administratively. They ought to have the power to impose civil fines administratively--subject, of course, to appeal to the courts--relative to corporate directors and corporate officers. That amendment, as relevant as it is to this bill, was frustrated when cloture was invoked and when all the time up to that vote was utilized so that my SEC amendment was not allowed to come up for a vote.”