[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 12747]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AN ENERGY BILL ENRON WOULD LOVE

  (Mr. HONDA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, one feature industry loves about the energy 
bill this body passed again Tuesday is a provision that would repeal 
the Public Utility Holding Company Act, which helps States regulate 
large multi-state electricity companies.
  Some people say that we do not need PUHCA anymore, that its time has 
passed.
  But exemptions from PUHCA are what enabled the actions we heard from 
Enron and other energy traders in recently released tapes. Here is how 
they described what they were doing when allowed to operate without 
PUHCA:
  ``So the rumor's true?'' one trader asked another. ``They're 
[expletive] taking all the money back from you guys? All the money you 
guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?''
  The Enron trader responded, ``Yeah, Grandma Millie, man. But she's 
the one who couldn't figure out how to [expletive] vote on the 
butterfly ballot.''
  The first trader responded, ``Yeah, now she wants her [expletive] 
money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed 
[expletive] for [expletive] $250 a megawatt hour,'' the first trader 
says.
  One of the traders, referring to efforts to stop the gouging, said, 
``It's just crap. It's completely crap. It just goes against everything 
our country's about.''
  Well, I do not know about you, but in my mind, stealing from your 
customers goes against everything our country is about; and this is 
outrageous. The American people deserve better. In fact, they deserve 
an apology.

                          ____________________