James A. Leach: “First, Mr. Speaker, let me express my appreciation for the thoughtfulness of the concerns of the proponents of this…”

“First, Mr. Speaker, let me express my appreciation for the thoughtfulness of the concerns of the proponents of this motion. At the risk of presumption, I would stress that the majority and the minority are not as far apart as the rhetoric might lead a listener to this debate to expect. There are two principal aspects to the amendment. One relates to the Lee amendment on redlining, which some of us on this side differ with, and others, like myself, find quite reasonable. The other relates to privacy. Here I would simply note that the bill before us represents the greatest expansion of privacy rights in modern day finance. Indeed, it represents, in the words of the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley), a movement far further than she would have ever have dreamed. In the words of the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), it is a good step forward. Actually, it is not one but a number of steps forward. Let me mention six. One, there is a mandatory disclosure by financial institutions of privacy policies. Two, there are consumer opt-out choices to prevent the sale of confidential information to unaffiliated third parties. Three, there is a medical opt-in choice to prevent the transfer of a consumer's medical information without the consumer's consent. Four, there is a prohibition on disclosure of consumer account numbers to third party telemarketers. Five, there are new privacy enforcement mechanisms for financial institution regulators.”