Burgess Owens: “the Republican majority has managed to move the discussion off the table and stifle any discussions of the swindles that…”

“the Republican majority has managed to move the discussion off the table and stifle any discussions of the swindles that have taken place. However, the hurt, the pain goes on with respect to what has been endured by working families and hardworking employees of corporations that swindle them out of their pension funds. To go forward with the kind of ceremonial bill that was passed in this House perpetuates that swindle. We did not do anything significant. We did not deal with the situation that exists in terms of they have lost their money and no one has offered them ways to get it back, except I must pay tribute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Sweeney) and the AFL-CIO. Despite the fact that Enron's employees were not unionized, several other corporations were not unionized, they have gone to bat with them, and they have got a settlement with them in the bankruptcy courts for some Enron employees to get some of their money back. We had an opportunity to be able to deal with correcting what the Republican majority started when they took control.”