Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, the recent lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, against Goldman Sachs underscores that much still needs to be done to improve transparency and restore confidence in our financial system. Indeed, that is why we must have the debate on Wall Street reform. The nearly 1/2 of all U.S. households that own securities deserve a strong cop on the beat that has the tools it needs to go after swindlers and scam artists, and pursue the difficult cases arising from our increasingly complex financial markets. Our economy's success depends in no small part on restoring confidence in our capital markets and a smoothly operating capital formation process.

The bill I am introducing this afternoon, the Modernizing and Strengthening Investor Protection Act, would improve the ability of the SEC to protect investors by strengthening its ability to bring enforcement actions, addressing issues revealed by the recent Madoff fraud, and modernizing its ability to obtain critical information. In particular, it would enhance the ability of the SEC to hire market experts, strengthen oversight of fund custodians, modernize the SEC's ability to obtain information from the firms it oversees, and clarify and enhance SEC penalties and other authorities.

This legislation mirrors a bill that Representative Kanjorski introduced and worked to include in the House version of Wall Street reform. I urge my colleagues to take a look at my legislation during the next few days, as I plan to introduce it as an amendment to the Wall Street reform bill that is about to be considered by the Senate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,

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