Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “I would welcome my friend from Ohio to the conservative ranks if I really thought this amendment was conservative in…”

“I would welcome my friend from Ohio to the conservative ranks if I really thought this amendment was conservative in nature, but it is hardly that. This is a big government solution. It is a one-size-fits-all solution. It is essentially the neutron bomb. I guess his message is, if you have lost faith in the free market, you need to have faith in big government. I do not think people are ready to make that leap. I think they understand intuitively, based on their investments, that they trust the free market, and they trust that our markets are the most open and efficient markets in the world, represented by the American marketplace. That is really the message. And, indeed, people have changed dramatically. Probably just a few years ago when I first came to Congress, two-thirds of people's savings were in bank accounts and only a third in equities. That is totally turned around now. We have become a Nation of investors from a Nation of savers, and that is a positive development. We have 46 million in 401(k) plans that are invested in those accounts. We have over half of the households today invested in equities. We have the most robust market in the history of the world. Let us not change that. Let us not endanger that free market with the Kucinich amendment.”