Political Quotes

“I rise a little bit perplexed about the motion to instruct conferees in that it appears to me that the Republican-passed legislation calls for stricter penalties from a group which is asking for stronger measures which does not seem quite right. But that is not really what I want to speak to right now. What I want to speak to is the fact that the Senate, in my judgment, has adopted a very good piece of legislation, at least as I know it, the Sarbanes legislation. But there are some questions about that that I certainly have and that I think conferees would have. The House has also passed, in my judgment, a very good piece of legislation, frankly not that dissimilar from the Sarbanes legislation, and it also has provisions in it that I think should be looked at. I believe that the right way to do this is to go to conference, not to instruct the conferees as to what to do. Let them make their decisions on the timetable as outlined by the chairman of the Committee on Financial Services here before us tonight to look at some of the House issues as well as some of the Senate issues. The real-time disclosure, in my judgment, is a real issue. The FAIR account to return money to investors which the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker) got done, I think, is very significant. This whole issue of the criminal penalties we are talking about right now is very significant. I believe that we can do this.”