Joe Biden: “I will be necessarily brief because I have over the years learned to count, and I do not believe I have the votes for…”

“I will be necessarily brief because I have over the years learned to count, and I do not believe I have the votes for this amendment, but I want to make two relatively brief points. First of all, in 1970, the Congress greatly assisted the fight against organized crime by adopting the Racketeering Influence and Corruption Organizations Act. We know it as RICO. RICO included a private civil enforcement provision with enhanced penalties, including triple damages for racketeering behavior in furtherance of a criminal enterprise engaged in certain, what they call predicate offenses, including murder, arson, bribery, wire fraud, bankruptcy fraud, and securities fraud--securities fraud. At the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the industry, though against the wishes of law enforcement and State regulators, in 1995, the Securities Litigation Act effectively eliminated securities fraud as a grounds for private civil RICO proceedings. Many of us disagreed with carving out the securities fraud for special status, Mr. President, and protection from application of the civil RICO statute. In fact, my amendment was intended to preserve many civil RICO securities fraud claims and was accepted last time by the full Senate. Unfortunately, it was dropped in committee.”