Barney Frank: “Mr. Chairman, this is, as I think has been made clear, a bill that has already passed the House. Clearly the former…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is, as I think has been made clear, a bill that has already passed the House. Clearly the former reasons for the prohibition on interest on business checking accounts no longer make sense in light of the current economy. I appreciate the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly) alluding to the issue of the ILCs. When we had originally dealt with this, it had been my hope as this bill went forward in the other body, the compromise we had adopted could be considered there. For a variety of reasons this did not go forward in the other body. And the rules prohibit me from commenting on whether or not anyone ought to be surprised by the absence of that progress, so I shall not. But this, once again, we hope will go forward; because it is, I think, an important thing especially, as has been clear, for the small businesses. Interest on their checking accounts, if you are a smaller business and you have to maintain a large percentage of your funds in checking accounts for a variety of reasons, then the lack of interest could become a significant factor. So I hope that this will ultimately pass, but I do hope that the ILC issue will get some further attention.”