Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I certainly hope that the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) is not attempting to protect those folks who are violating the law and attempting to defraud consumers in this country. Let me just point out who it is that supports this bill. The gentleman says we are attacking the gray market, but the National Association of Mass Retailers does not oppose this bill. It is supported by the United States Chamber of Commerce. It is supported by the AFL-CIO. It is supported by the National Association of Manufacturers, and it is supported by the National Consumers League. We are protecting consumers here, and we are not doing anything to affect those people who legitimately sell in the parallel market. I hope they continue to do so. That is certainly not what we are trying to affect here. We are trying to help law enforcement be able to trace product codes. It would be a shame if the batteries sold to the perpetrator of the Atlanta bombings were tampered with by somebody because it was not against the law to tamper with the identification code, and the FBI was not able to trace, as they were in that case, those products back to where they were sold to help identify the perpetrators.”