Barney Frank: “Mr. Chairman, I guess I must look pretty stupid to be told that people are going to work with me at the end of the bill.…”

“Mr. Chairman, I guess I must look pretty stupid to be told that people are going to work with me at the end of the bill. This process has been going on since we finished the markup. My staff was negotiating with the staff of the majority. We offered all kinds of things. We had the manager's amendment opportunity. This amendment was filed last night. It was subject to secondary degree amendment. It could have been changed. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley) said there is no real difference between my position and the position of the gentleman from Louisiana. Let me correct the gentleman, there is no difference between my position and the position the gentleman from Louisiana explained when the amendment was offered; but there is a big difference between my position and what the law says if we pass this bill this way. We talk about the protected classes, people who have been the victims of fraud, people who are unemployed, if you pass this bill and defeat this amendment, they will have less rights thanks to your work than they have today. The amendment of the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker), he said through inadvertence, took away their rights. Whatever they use to take away their rights, whether it was inadvertence, advertence, or anything else, they have lost their rights.”