Jay Inslee: “I rise to advise my colleagues of a disturbing blow against our efforts to protect consumers' privacy in banking. Last…”

“I rise to advise my colleagues of a disturbing blow against our efforts to protect consumers' privacy in banking. Last November, this Chamber passed and the President signed into law a bill that would allow consumers for the first time to advise their banks not to violate their privacy, to tell their banks not to give away their credit card numbers to telemarketing agencies. In that bill, the regulations were to be adopted and they were to be enforced this November by a Federal law signed by the President, passed by this House and the other Chamber. Yet, we are now told that the regulatory officers whose constitutional duty it is to follow the law we passed are going to unilaterally delay implementation of those rules, not for a week, not for a month, not for 2 months, but for another 231 days before they are going to enforce the law of this country. This delay is inexcusable. It is unprecedented. It defies the constitutional obligation of the executive authority. We have to move forward in privacy, and do it on a timely basis.”