Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, today we have before us a pension security bill that passed the House last year with broad bipartisan support. That is the underlying bill, with two exceptions, two issues that were contained in last year's Sarbanes-Oxley bill, the 30-day notice of a blackout period and the prohibition on company insiders selling stock during a blackout period. Those issues have been signed into law. But the balance of that bill is what we have before us today. It is a reasonable and responsible approach to address the problems that were identified during our investigation of Enron, WorldCom and others. More specifically and more importantly, it does not overreach and begin to delve into areas where there are likely to be very serious unintended consequences. The substitute that is being offered by my friends on the other side is well-meaning, well-intentioned, and we have worked closely on these issues for many years, but the fact is that if Members look at the substitute that we have before us, it will cause serious concern in the employer community, and I would suggest many employees across the country will no longer have pensions because of the onerous regulations and excessive litigation that would result if the substitute that is offered were, in fact, adopted and signed into law.”