Political Quotes

“Of course we would all like to see passage of an e-commerce bill that would promote commercial transactions over the Internet. But an e-commerce bill should not be a grab bag for insurance, financial, or other special interests to hurt consumers. I think that is the underlying discussion that has been developed here today. It should not be a vehicle for Congress to tell the States that all of a sudden they are unable to enact contract law on their own in the area of e-commerce. Consumer laws requiring notice and disclosure in writing are being undermined. This measure would allow unsavory merchants to trick consumers into clicking away many of their rights under the laws. The measure, H.R. 1714, stands for the proposition that States are unable to enact their own laws and may not reinstate many additional consumer protections. It further undermines key Federal and State regulatory requirements to prevent fraud and abuse. And so an e-commerce that would be a win-win situation for all, that should make it easier for consumers to buy goods and services more quickly from a broader group of businesses and should allow businesses new methods of reaching more people, doing all these things, frankly, is not a hard bill to write. But the bill that the Commerce majority seeks to put on the floor at this time is not such a bill.”