Steve Israel: “as a freshman Member of the House Financial Services Committee, I'm still new enough to hope that both sides of the…”

“as a freshman Member of the House Financial Services Committee, I'm still new enough to hope that both sides of the aisle truly want to accomplish meaningful corporate reform. But I'm not naive. A few months ago, in the wake of Enron, many of us on the Committee offered amendments to the majority's corporate governance reform. We offered an amendment to stop the conflicts between analysts and investment bankers. The majority defeated it. We offered an amendment to ensure independence of auditors. The majority diluted it. We offered amendments to achieve true structural reform and end corporate thievery. The majority delayed it. And now, in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and two strikes, suddenly the majority has seen the light and felt the heat of an expansive population of angry Americans who are watching their retirements dissipate. The President has asked us to get a bill on his desk--while members of his Administration deal with a daily barrage of reports on their own conduct as the corporate leaders of Haliburton, Harkin, Enron and others. Tonight we have a choice. We can continue to allow the majority to defeat, dilute and delay true protections of Main Street investors and retirees. Or we can draw the line with the Sarbanes bill that puts people ahead of politics.”