[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12239]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             HONESTY AND INTEGRITY IN AMERICAN CORPORATIONS

  (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, people who rob and steal other people's 
money while sitting behind a desk in a corner office, wearing an 
expensive business suit, are no better than the common thief, burglar 
or pickpocket on the street, and they may be worse because those who 
committed fraud at Enron, WorldCom and Arthur Andersen have had every 
advantage and every opportunity our great Nation has to offer.
  Instead of giving something back to the Nation that has given them so 
much, they stole, they robbed, they cheated, they defrauded. They hurt 
workers and families who depend on every paycheck and every investment 
they made. They hurt seniors whose retirement savings were devalued.
  Mr. Speaker, free enterprise is part of our genius but so is honesty 
and integrity. So is honesty and integrity. It is time we start 
demanding those qualities from those who run and manage our businesses 
and from those who are supposed to enforce our laws, and for those who 
break that trust, the penalty should be equal to the enormous damage 
they cause.

                          ____________________