[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 27064]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                              {time}  1015

                                PRIVACY

  (Mr. LUTHER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LUTHER. Mr. Speaker, financial services modernization legislation 
has emerged from conference committee, but unfortunately it lacks 
provisions that allow American consumers to keep financial institutions 
from distributing their personal private financial information. The 
bill is so riddled with loopholes that it would actually permit the 
telemarketing practice that outraged citizens in my home State of 
Minnesota and that our Attorney General Mike Hatch stopped.
  It did not need to be this way, Mr. Speaker. Financial institutions 
need to move into the next century, but not at the expense of the 
American people, and we are here to represent the American people. It 
is not too much to ask that these institutions in the wake of an 
unprecedented opportunity to profit, that they respect their customers' 
privacy.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask all Americans to contact their representatives in 
Congress and to stop this bill from passing.

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