Jay Inslee: “Unfortunately, our friends on the other side of the aisle were worse than silent. They absolutely choked off any…”

“Unfortunately, our friends on the other side of the aisle were worse than silent. They absolutely choked off any consideration of the Enron scandal on the floor of the House today. Here we have this enormous scandal breaking with the exposition of these tapes, and they refused to allow any Enron discussion even or action on the floor of the House. The gentleman brings up campaign contributions. It is interesting because so did the Enron traders. I want to read from a transcript of a tape of two Enron traders talking shortly before the election. The first one, his name was Matt. Matt was talking to Tom, and the transcript says: 'Tell you what. You heard this here first: When Bush wins--' 'Tom: Caps are gone,' meaning price caps, some action to keep prices reasonable. 'Matt: That `blank' Bill Richardson,' former Secretary of Energy, 'he's gone, and Clinton, he's gone. All those socialists are gone.' 'Tom: Yeah.' 'Matt: And who's the biggest single contributor to the Bush campaigners? 'Tom: You.' 'Matt: (Laughs) Enron.' 'Tom: Enron. What? 'Matt: Enron.' 'Tom: Is it Enron? 'Matt: Yeah.' 'Tom: Is that true? 'Matt: Yeah, I think it is.' 'Tom: The biggest single contributor.' Enron Corporation. 'Matt: Yeah, the biggest corporate contributor.' 'Holy--really? That's huge.' 'And that is number one.' 'Ken Lay,' CEO of Enron, 'is going to be the Secretary of Energy.' 'Tom: Get out of here!'' Tom does not have to get out of here because he got what he wanted.…”