[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12577]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            PRESIDENT CALLS FOR NEW ETHIC OF RESPONSIBILITY

  (Mrs. BIGGERT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of President Bush's plan 
to cut down on corruption in America's corporate community. The 
President's plan creates tough new criminal penalties and enforcement 
provisions to punish those who refuse to play by the rules.
  This is America, and those who break the law and threaten the 
integrity of our financial markets must pay the piper and return their 
ill-gotten gains.
  Mr. Speaker, the House earlier this year took steps to codify the 
President's plan into law, even before his address on Wall Street. On 
March 7, the President first said that CEOs or other corporate 
executives should not profit from erroneous financial statements. He 
also said that corporate officers who clearly abuse their power should 
not serve in the leadership of public companies.
  The House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan accounting reform bill 
in April that included both of these initiatives. When the President 
called, the House responded.
  As we continue to install a new ethic of corporate responsibility, we 
must strike the right balance between empowering the SEC to do a better 
job and not overregulating or tying ourselves up in unnecessary red 
tape. At the end of the day, we must punish the crooks, not the honest 
brokers.

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