On the recordMarch 22, 2012
the House bill has some very promising concepts about providing access to capital. What it fails to do is adequately protect investors. We have tried, through our alternative, to protect investors. That alternative has been rejected on a cloture vote by the Senate. We have made some improvements with the Merkley proposal, but we are not quite to the point yet where I think we can be confident that investors will be protected. As such, I think we should vote against this legislation, and that we should in fact try again and get it right. That is why the head of the Securities Exchange Commission opposes this, and the state securities regulators, and former heads of the Securities Exchange Commission, and the Council of Institutional Investors, and many others. We are opening up vast loopholes in our securities laws without adequate disclosure for investors. I think we will regret this vote. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
