[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 65 (Thursday, May 6, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S4881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              FINANCIAL SERVICES MODERNIZATION ACT OF 1999

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I wish to make brief comments about the 
bill.
  I congratulate all of the people that have been involved in passing 
this bill today. It is a significant piece of banking legislation. It 
is a significant piece of legislation for this country. It will make a 
difference to consumer safety, to banks, to insurance companies, to 
securities companies, to all of the financial institutions of any form 
in this country.
  I want to congratulate the staff people who worked on that bill. They 
were tireless, they were diligent. They have worked for longer hours 
than I have seen people work. I want to congratulate my fellow Senators 
on the Banking Committee for not only their tireless effort, but the 
way they debated, brought issues and amendments to the floor, and 
worked through the process together. This could have been a much more 
lengthy process than the 3 days that it took.
  I particularly want to commend the ranking member on the committee. 
It has been a tremendous education working with him through these days. 
I want to congratulate the chairman, as well. I point out the contrast 
between the ranking member and the chairman: One is very quiet and one 
is very vocal. But together they worked through this issue, helped to 
expedite the votes that we took, helped to expedite the debates, and 
worked together well so we could reach this point.
  I have to make a few comments about the chairman who is one of the 
most tireless and focused people that I have seen. I know he was an 
economics professor and I appreciate the amount of research he did for 
this, and saw that as an example of the effort he probably put in when 
he was teaching.
  I listened to him speak. I think I would have liked to have had him 
as one of my professors. He can take things that are very detailed and 
make them interesting. If banking can be made entertaining, he does it. 
He has a unique use of charts and words that help to paint a picture. 
Unlike some economists, he is not doing the ``on the one hand and on 
the other hand,'' he is very decided in his opinions.
  I have to mention that in Banking Committee after one of our hearings 
he was asked how the procedure would go on this bank reform. It was a 
leftover issue from last year, and a number of people were concerned 
and wanted it to progress. So they asked him how it would work.
  He said: We are going to have a number of hearings on it, and then 
following the hearings we will draft the bill, and then I want Senators 
to have an opportunity to talk to their constituents, to talk to their 
banks, to talk to all of their insurance agents and to talk to their 
securities dealers and companies. Following that, we will have a 
markup.
  He said: On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we will have hearings, 
the draft will be available on Friday, and Tuesday we will do a markup. 
We did have the hearings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The draft 
wasn't available until Monday so we did not do the markup until 
Thursday. That has to be some classic action on a bill.
  It was not just a matter of taking the bill from last year, it was a 
matter of simplifying that. He insisted that since we had language in 
there that was to simplify banking language and to force the banks to 
operate in plain language, it was only fair that we do that too. It 
changed the bill from a 308-page bill to a 150-page bill.
  We have had the opportunity to debate that. There are still some 
things to be worked out. I look forward to the conference committee. 
Even if I am not on it I will observe it, because I am sure it will be 
educational. With the intellect of the chairman and the ranking member, 
it will be a fascinating study and well worth watching. It is one that 
everybody who is hoping the playing field gets leveled and specified 
will be holding their breath about.

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