Political Quotes

“I rise in support of S. 900, the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999. I commend the senior Senator from Texas, the chairman of the Banking Committee, Mr. Gramm, for his leadership on this important measure, a bill that will increase global competitiveness of U.S. financial firms. It will increase access to financial services for all Americans, and it will decrease costs for consumers. I congratulate Senator Gramm on his willingness to meet with all of the different groups that have asked to meet with him, the way he has reached out and been willing to talk to people on both sides of the aisle, as well as spend innumerable hours with those of us who have had questions about some of the very detailed technical parts of the bill, particularly the operating subsidiaries, for the research that he has done. I compliment him on the simplification he has done. There were some very complicated issues in last year's bill that, because of the end of the year pressure, were included but weren't very concise. They seemed to be misunderstood by people on both sides of whatever issue. Of course, around here there are more than two sides to every issue. The chairman sat down with those people and worked out some simplification of language that they say they agree with now. One of the results is, it has reduced a 308-page bill to 150 pages without damaging anything, but it has greatly increased the readability.”