Darlene Hooley: “what a year it has been. We now have proof that Enron was manipulating West Coast energy prices to simply gouge…”

“what a year it has been. We now have proof that Enron was manipulating West Coast energy prices to simply gouge consumers of their hard-earned money while its auditor, Arthur Andersen, took the term ``cooking the books'' to a whole new level. We have also learned how Fortune 500 companies take out life insurance policies on their rank-and-file employees to enhance compensation for senior executives. Speaking of corporate tax avoidance, try and keep a straight face when you tell your constituents that it is perfectly legal for a company to rent a post office in Bermuda and avoid paying taxes. This is utterly ridiculous. One of the effects of corporations not paying their taxes is that we cannot give seniors and working families a prescription drug benefit, or that we cannot fund the President's education bill or hire more cops. Moreover, we are in the middle of a war, and we are effectively permitting U.S. companies to place a higher value on earnings than on patriotism. Mr. Speaker, it is time to close this loophole. It is time to crack down on tax evasion. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 3884.”