[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 6] [Senate] [Page 8872] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]FINANCIAL SERVICES MODERNIZATION ACT OF 1999 Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I wish to make brief comments about the bill. I congratulate all of the people that have been involved in passing this bill today. It is a significant piece of banking legislation. It is a significant piece of legislation for this country. It will make a difference to consumer safety, to banks, to insurance companies, to securities companies, to all of the financial institutions of any form in this country. I want to congratulate the staff people who worked on that bill. They were tireless, they were diligent. They have worked for longer hours than I have seen people work. I want to congratulate my fellow Senators on the Banking Committee for not only their tireless effort, but the way they debated, brought issues and amendments to the floor, and worked through the process together. This could have been a much more lengthy process than the 3 days that it took. I particularly want to commend the ranking member on the committee. It has been a tremendous education working with him through these days. I want to congratulate the chairman, as well. I point out the contrast between the ranking member and the chairman: One is very quiet and one is very vocal. But together they worked through this issue, helped to expedite the votes that we took, helped to expedite the debates, and worked together well so we could reach this point. I have to make a few comments about the chairman who is one of the most tireless and focused people that I have seen. I know he was an economics professor and I appreciate the amount of research he did for this, and saw that as an example of the effort he probably put in when he was teaching. I listened to him speak. I think I would have liked to have had him as one of my professors. He can take things that are very detailed and make them interesting. If banking can be made entertaining, he does it. He has a unique use of charts and words that help to paint a picture. Unlike some economists, he is not doing the ``on the one hand and on the other hand,'' he is very decided in his opinions. I have to mention that in Banking Committee after one of our hearings he was asked how the procedure would go on this bank reform. It was a leftover issue from last year, and a number of people were concerned and wanted it to progress. So they asked him how it would work. He said: We are going to have a number of hearings on it, and then following the hearings we will draft the bill, and then I want Senators to have an opportunity to talk to their constituents, to talk to their banks, to talk to all of their insurance agents and to talk to their securities dealers and companies. Following that, we will have a markup. He said: On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we will have hearings, the draft will be available on Friday, and Tuesday we will do a markup. We did have the hearings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The draft wasn't available until Monday so we did not do the markup until Thursday. That has to be some classic action on a bill. It was not just a matter of taking the bill from last year, it was a matter of simplifying that. He insisted that since we had language in there that was to simplify banking language and to force the banks to operate in plain language, it was only fair that we do that too. It changed the bill from a 308-page bill to a 150-page bill. We have had the opportunity to debate that. There are still some things to be worked out. I look forward to the conference committee. Even if I am not on it I will observe it, because I am sure it will be educational. With the intellect of the chairman and the ranking member, it will be a fascinating study and well worth watching. It is one that everybody who is hoping the playing field gets leveled and specified will be holding their breath about. ____________________