James A. Leach: “we come to the Congress today to deal with truly historic legislation. Everybody knows there are massive changes…”

“we come to the Congress today to deal with truly historic legislation. Everybody knows there are massive changes underway in the financial landscape. Not all of us like all of these changes. In fact, I would suspect the majority of the country and the majority of this body have serious doubts. But the bill we are bringing before the Congress is about the question of whether we want to have a government of laws or of men, whether we want to have laws shaped and constrained to defend the financial system for the benefit of the public. What we really have before us as we deal with issues of this nature are differences between and within industrial groupings, differences between and within regulatory bodies, and questions of the public interest. In my view, the principal issue is the latter, what is in the public interest. What we have in the bill that is being brought before us is a bill designed to be pro-competitive. In its broadest outlines, there is enormous support in the administration, both sides of Congress, both committees for the principle that we ought to have more competition within financial services; banks being allowed to offer more securities and insurance services, insurance companies more banking and securities products, securities firms more insurance and banking products. That is a pro-competitive circumstance.…”