[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 6 (Saturday, January 20, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H67]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE AND 
                      FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE

  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, I am inserting in the Congressional Record 
the following memorandum of understanding:
                                                 January 20, 2001.
       On January 3, 2001, the House agreed to H.Res. 5, 
     establishing the rules of the House for the 107th Congress. 
     Section 2(d) of H.Res. 5 contained a provision renaming the 
     Banking Committee as the Financial Services Committee and 
     transferring jurisdiction over securities and exchanges and 
     insurance from the Commerce Committee to the Financial 
     Services Committee. The Commerce Committee was also renamed 
     the Energy and Commerce Committee.
       The Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on 
     Financial Services jointly acknowledge as the authoritative 
     source of legislative history concerning section 2(d) of 
     H.Res. 5 the following statement of Rules Committee Chairman 
     David Dreier during floor consideration of the resolution:
       ``In what is obviously one of our most significant changes, 
     Mr. Speaker, section 2(d) of the resolution establishes a new 
     Committee on Financial Services, which will have jurisdiction 
     over the following matters:
       (1) banks and banking, including deposit insurance and 
     Federal monetary policy;
       (2) economic stabilization, defense production, 
     renegotiation, and control of the price of commodities, 
     rents, and services;
       (3) financial aid to commerce and industry (other than 
     transportation);
       (4) insurance generally;
       (5) international finance;
       (6) international financial and monetary organizations;
       (7) money and credit, including currency and the issuance 
     of notes and redemption thereof; gold and silver, including 
     the coinage thereof; valuation and revaluation of the dollar;
       (8) public and private housing;
       (9) securities and exchanges; and
       (10) urban development.
       ``Mr. Speaker, jurisdiction over matters relating to 
     securities and exchanges is transferred in its entirety from 
     the Committee on Commerce, which will be redesignated under 
     this rules change to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 
     and it will not be transferred from the new Committee on 
     Energy and Commerce to this new Committee on Financial 
     Services. This transfer is not intended to convey to the 
     Committee on Financial Services jurisdiction currently in the 
     Committee on Agriculture regarding commodity exchanges.
       ``Furthermore, this change is not intended to convey to the 
     Committee on Financial Services jurisdiction over matters 
     relating to regulation and SEC oversight of multi-state 
     public utility holding companies and their subsidiaries, 
     which remain essentially matters of energy policy.
       ``Mr. Speaker, as a result of the transfer of jurisdiction 
     over matters relating to securities and exchanges, redundant 
     jurisdiction over matters relating to bank capital markets 
     activities generally and depository institutions securities 
     activities, which were formerly matters in the jurisdiction 
     of the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, have been 
     removed from clause 1 of rule X.
       ``Matters relating to insurance generally, formerly within 
     the jurisdiction of the redesignated Committee on Energy and 
     Commerce, are transferred to the jurisdiction of the 
     Committee on Financial Services.
       ``The transfer of any jurisdiction to the Committee on 
     Financial Services is not intended to limit the Committee on 
     Energy and Commerce's jurisdiction over consumer affairs and 
     consumer protection matters.
       ``Likewise, existing health insurance jurisdiction is not 
     transferred as a result of this change.
       ``Furthermore, the existing jurisdictions of other 
     committees with respect to matters relating to crop 
     insurance, Workers' Compensation, insurance anti-trust 
     matters, disaster insurance, veterans' life and health 
     insurance, and national social security policy are not 
     affected by this change.
       ``Finally, Mr. Speaker, the changes and legislative history 
     involving the Committee on Financial Services and the 
     Committee on Energy and Commerce do not preclude future 
     memorandum of understanding between the chairmen of these 
     respective committees.''
       By this memorandum the two committees undertake to record 
     their further mutual understandings in this matter, which 
     will supplement the statement quoted above.
       It is agreed that the Committee on Energy and Commerce will 
     retain jurisdiction over bills dealing broadly with 
     electronic commerce, including electronic communications 
     networks (ECNs). However, a bill amending the securities laws 
     to address the specific type of electronic securities 
     transaction currently governed by a special SEC regulation as 
     an Alternative Trading System (ATS) would be referred to the 
     Committee on Financial Services.
       While it is agreed that the jurisdiction of the Committee 
     on Financial Services over securities and exchanges includes 
     anti-fraud authorities under the securities laws, the 
     Committee on Energy and Commerce will retain jurisdiction 
     only over the issue of setting of accounting standards by the 
     Financial Accounting Standards Board.

     W.J. ``Billy'' Tauzin,
                                            Chairman, Committee on
                                              Energy and Commerce.
     Michael G. Oxley,
                                            Chairman, Committee on
     Financial Services.

                          ____________________