[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12414]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                          TIME FOR REAL REFORM

  (Mr. WELLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor in anger and outrage 
about the corporate scandals that we have seen in the newspapers over 
the last several months. I am outraged about Enron, Martha Stewart's 
insider trading, Global Crossing and the other companies that are 
demonstrating a lack of good faith in the free enterprise system, which 
I support. I stand in strong support of free enterprise and small 
business and giving every American worker the opportunity to move up 
the economic ladder. I commend what President Bush stated yesterday in 
his efforts to root out corporate corruption.
  If we support free enterprise, we want to clean out the bad apples. 
Unfortunately, the greed of the 1990s has come home to roost.
  Mr. Speaker, the House has acted. In April the House of 
Representatives passed accounting reform. Earlier this year, the House 
of Representatives passed pension reform to protect the pensions of 
American workers. Unfortunately, the Senate is only today beginning to 
act.
  My hope is the House and Senate can work quickly together to pass 
accounting reforms, pass legislation to protect America's pensions. I 
would note that the Democratic leader of the House, the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), who yesterday called on the House to act, 
voted against accounting reforms in April. It is time for real reform. 
Fortunately, the House has acted. My hope is the Senate will act, and 
we will get the job done.

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