Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “Mr. Speaker, I also rise in opposition to the motion. First let me associate myself with the remarks of the gentleman…”

“Mr. Speaker, I also rise in opposition to the motion. First let me associate myself with the remarks of the gentleman from Wisconsin, the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. As chairman of the Committee on Financial Services, I find some of the same concerns that the gentleman from Wisconsin has. We are again talking about people who are of legal age, 18. I thought it was interesting that the title is, issuance of credit cards to underage consumers. By whose definition are they under age? By Federal law, they can vote. By most State laws, as the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) indicated, they can engage in contracts. These are, for the most part, responsible people. We are really dealing here with stereotypes that are unfortunate because many of these people are responsible and treat credit in a responsible way, and they learn from their experience. In Ohio, we had a young fellow just elected to the Ohio General Assembly just out of high school; he was 18 years old, a member of the Ohio General Assembly. Can Members imagine if he wanted to get a credit card to use, he would have to get his parents' consent. Here is a person who was duly elected by the people of Ohio to serve in the General Assembly. This is I think a well-meaning amendment, but certainly wrongly directed. I would ask that the motion be defeated.”