Mike Enzi: “I do rise in support of the Edwards-Enzi-Corzine amendment. I am disappointed there has been a second-degree amendment…”

“I do rise in support of the Edwards-Enzi-Corzine amendment. I am disappointed there has been a second-degree amendment to this, on which amendment we are working. It does not deal with the same topic. It does not deal with the same bill. It is going off in a different direction. If we keep having second-degree amendments throughout that go off in other directions, we are not going to get this bill finished and through the process. So it would be my hope it would be withdrawn. I will concentrate my efforts on the amendment I have worked on with Senator Edwards, Senator Corzine, and others. This amendment is designed to assure that attorneys are responsible for fully informing their corporate client of evidence of material violations of Federal securities law. That is what we are talking about through the whole accounting reform. Over the past few months, Congress and the public have concentrated on the role of accountants and auditors involved in Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, and others. We have held hearings and drafted legislation intended to restore a high level of ethical behavior to corporate America and the accounting industry. This breach in ethical behavior led to the problems these companies are now experiencing. I have to say through all of those hearings, as an accountant, I felt the profession was very picked on, and the profession deserved to be picked on--not everybody in the profession.”