Debbie Dingell: “with all respect for all of my colleagues, there are certain things that are very simple and very clear here. The bill…”

“with all respect for all of my colleagues, there are certain things that are very simple and very clear here. The bill before us does not address the problem. It repeals PUHCA. It eliminates the merger protections. It has virtually no protections in it against fraud. It raises the bar significantly for FERC to modify contracts. And it fixes it so that you cannot get speedy refunds going back to the date that the wrongdoing occurred. Now, what does the substitute do? It gives FERC broad antifraud authority in every part. And I would note that it is supported by both the public power people and by the co-ops. It directs FERC to establish audit trails that do other things, including requiring transparency of transactions and rate-making so as to more easily detect and deter wrongdoing. It requires the SEC to review existing PUHCA exemptions to prevent future Enrons from obscuring its actions, and I would note that SEC and FERC have pointed out the huge number of improprieties associated with Enron. It increases civil and criminal penalties, and it reforms FERC's authority to permit refunds of unjust and unreasonable market-based rates back to the date that they began.”