[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 98 (Thursday, July 18, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H4876]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PROVIDING CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY AND REFORM

  (Mr. SANDLIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SANDLIN. Mr. Speaker, by now we are all well aware of the recent 
wave of corporate accounting scandals and the consequent need for 
systemic reform in this country. Though WorldCom is only one of several 
high-profile cases of corporate abuse, the sheer size of WorldCom's 
alleged accounting ``error'' and the ease with which the company 
perpetrated this fraud have served as the catalysts for long overdue 
and much-needed reform.
  According to the Wall Street Journal, public pension funds, such as 
the teacher retirement system in Texas, mutual funds and insurance 
companies in my home State of Texas, hold approximately $870 million in 
WorldCom bonds that are virtually worthless as a result of imminent 
Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
  Simply, the type of corporate behavior that has led to WorldCom's 
meltdown is outrageous. It must end right now.
  WorldCom's financial situation, when considered in the context of 
other recent corporate accounting scandals, raises the troubling 
question of these scandals' immediate impact on investor confidence, 
and potentially long-term impact on investors' faith in the integrity 
of our capital markets.
  Access to accurate financial information is essential to the proper 
functioning of the markets, and as corporate America seems unwilling 
thus far to enact reasonable financial reforms, Congress must reform 
the system.

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