[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7269]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                PROTECTING CONSUMERS' PRIVACY IN BANKING

  (Mr. INSLEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to advise my colleagues of a 
disturbing blow against our efforts to protect consumers' privacy in 
banking. Last November, this Chamber passed and the President signed 
into law a bill that would allow consumers for the first time to advise 
their banks not to violate their privacy, to tell their banks not to 
give away their credit card numbers to telemarketing agencies.
  In that bill, the regulations were to be adopted and they were to be 
enforced this November by a Federal law signed by the President, passed 
by this House and the other Chamber. Yet, we are now told that the 
regulatory officers whose constitutional duty it is to follow the law 
we passed are going to unilaterally delay implementation of those 
rules, not for a week, not for a month, not for 2 months, but for 
another 231 days before they are going to enforce the law of this 
country.
  This delay is inexcusable. It is unprecedented. It defies the 
constitutional obligation of the executive authority. We have to move 
forward in privacy, and do it on a timely basis.

                          ____________________