Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi"We have repeatedly requested that the Republican leadership bring to the House floor, before the August recess, the tough corporate responsibility bill that passed the Senate unanimously last week. Again today we renew our call to bring the bipartisan Senate bill to a vote in the House this week. It can be on the President's desk and be signed before Friday.
My colleague John LaFalce has proposed a similarly tough bill in the House, and this discharge petition we are launching today will demonstrate the strong Democratic support for a real reform bill. It would create a strong, independent board to oversee the auditing of public companies, would assure the independence of auditors by prohibiting them from consulting for their auditing clients, and would mandate comprehensive reform to protect investors.
People have lost their pensions, their retirement, the prospects for their children's education and their children's future. And what have the House Republicans done? In the name of corporate reform, they continue to pursue cosmetic, rather than real change.
We must restore confidence in the stock market, and protect investors and workers.
The Senate bill is the absolute minimum needed to achieve the kind of reform
that will do that. We cannot, and must not, allow House Republicans and their
corporate friends to weaken our reform efforts."
