The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“PRINTING OF REVISED AND UPDATED VERSION OF ``WOMEN IN CONGRESS, 1917- 1990''” mentioning the Federal Reserve System was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1380-H1384 on April 3, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
PRINTING OF REVISED AND UPDATED VERSION OF ``WOMEN IN CONGRESS, 1917-
1990''
Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 66) authorizing the printing of a revised and updated version of the House document entitled ``Women in Congress, 1917-1990''.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 66
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), SECTION 1. PRINTING OF REVISED VERSION OF ``WOMEN IN
CONGRESS, 1917-1990''.
(a) In General.--An updated version of House Document 101-238, entitled ``Women in Congress, 1917-1990'' (as revised by the Library of Congress), shall be printed as a House document by the Public Printer, with illustrations and suitable binding, under the direction of the Committee on House Administration of the House of Representatives.
(b) Number of Copies.--In addition to the usual number, there shall be printed 30,700 copies of the document referred to in subsection (a), of which--
(1) 25,000 shall be for the use of the Committee on House Administration of the House of Representatives; and
(2) 5,700 shall be for the use of the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney).
Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, before us today we have House Concurrent Resolution 66. It is my pleasure to be here today to speak on behalf of this bill authorizing the printing of this rich history of women in Congress. It is also timely, as we now have a record number of 74 women serving in both the House and the Senate in the 107th Congress. Sixty-one women, including two delegates, currently serve as Members of the House of Representatives, and 13 women serve as Members of the U.S. Senate.
The first woman elected to Congress was Jeanette Rankin, a Republican from Montana. It is not that I planned it that way, Mr. Speaker, but a Republican from Montana who served in the House. She was elected on November 9, 1916. Amazingly, this was almost 4 years before American women won the right to vote in 1920. Since that time, a total of 208 women have served in Congress with distinction.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to yield the balance of my time for purposes of control to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to join the chairman of the committee as an original cosponsor of House Concurrent Resolution 66, and I am proud to speak in favor of its passage. This resolution authorizes the printing of a document which chronicles the contributions of women serving in this great body. It provides interesting facts about their backgrounds and their careers, which have inspired many, including me, to run for Congress and serve the American people.
It talks about women, such as my predecessor, Ruth Bryan Owen. She was the first woman Member from Florida. I am proud to be the second woman Member from Florida. She served from 1929 to 1933; and she was, as this book points out, the daughter of the peerless leader, three-
time Presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan.
We have had women such as Corrine Clairborne Lindy Boggs, for which the Ladies' Reading Room is named, from the district of Louisiana, elected in March 1973, and honored this body with her presence for many years.
When she was first elected to fill the seat of her late husband, she was thoroughly familiar with the world of Capitol Hill and Louisiana issues because she had worked side by side with her husband, a 14-term representative and a majority leader.
Lindy Boggs used this experience to serve the people of Louisiana, and we are proud that the Ladies' Reading Room is under her name and that the administrator of that room, Susan Dean, very proudly is part of that women's history in Congress.
There have also been trail blazers, Mr. Speaker, such as Edith Rogers. She was a representative from Massachusetts who served on the Committee of Veterans' Affairs in the 80th and 83rd Congress. She served with the American Red Cross in the care of disabled World War I veterans and served as the personal representative of President Harding and President Coolidge before disabled veterans; and interestingly, she checked herself into a Boston hospital under an assumed name to avoid the publicity of bad health, and she died while serving in this Chamber. She was actually reelected during that time on September 10, 1960.
She remains to this day the longest serving woman Member in Congress, 17 terms after replacing her husband.
Then there is the story that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) talked about of Jeanette Rankin, Republican of Montana, the first woman Member of the House, who voted against U.S. involvement in World War I, was defeated after that vote, and then she came back, voted against U.S. involvement in World War II and was defeated again.
Now, there is a very interesting history of women in Congress, Mr. Speaker, and without us having the authority to reprint ``The Women in Congress, 1917-1990,'' we will be missing a piece of our Nation's history.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to support this concurrent resolution introduced during Women's History Month by my distinguished friend, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur). The gentlewoman has consistently led this House on issues related to women. I want to thank her for introducing this resolution, highlighting the need to revise and reprint this important volume to which the gentlewoman from Florida
(Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) has already referred.
I also want to thank the chairman for his strong support and for bringing the measure to the floor so quickly. Since the publication of
``Women in Congress,'' the number of women who have served has risen by more than 61 percent, from 129 in 1990 to 208 today. That is a remarkable rise in just 11 years.
It demonstrates, Mr. Speaker, the profound contribution that American women are now able to make to the public life of our great country, and indeed that they have made throughout the history of this Nation. We must remember that it was not always so.
There is an extraordinary woman whose name is Margaret Brent. Margaret Brent was one of the first women lawyers in the colony, one of the first women landholders. She comes from Maryland, St. Mary's County, and she was the adviser to our governor back in the 17th century.
She was made a member of the Governor's Council; added to the legislature, but they would not give her a vote. They would not give her a vote, of course, because she was a woman. She is not in this book; but if she lived today, she clearly would be.
We must remember that for too long we discriminated against women in this Nation. It is almost hard to believe that it was not until the third decade of the last century that women were given the vote in America by constitutional amendment.
Although the 107th Congress includes a record 74 women, Mr. Speaker, there were no women, not one, in the 1st Congress or the 14th or the 24th, or the 44th, or even the 64th Congress, 128 years into the history of the Congress of the United States.
Not until, Mr. Speaker, the 65th Congress, that met in 1917, during the 129th year, did a woman, Jeanette Rankin of Montana, take the oath of office as a Representative. It was not until 1922, during the 67th Congress, that a woman, Rebecca Felton of Georgia, took the oath as a Senator.
Of the more than 11,600 individuals who have served in the two Houses since 1789, fewer than 2 percent have been women.
Ironically, when Representative Rankin first took her seat in this House, women had not yet secured the right to vote nationwide.
{time} 1645
This most cherished right of citizenship was not guaranteed for all American women until the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. How stark a fact, Mr. Speaker, that is. We quote, and I do as well, Jefferson's historic observation that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. What a lesson it is for us that even in stirring rhetoric, our vision can be limited. Even at a time when we think we are reaching out to all, our rhetoric may exclude many. It is a lesson for us, because clearly Thomas Jefferson was one of the great democrats with a small ``D'' in the history of the world. But even Jefferson was blind to the discrimination that existed, not only against women, but against African Americans, most of whom when he intoned those words were still perceived as chattels, not human beings. How sad, but how instructive, that is.
Mr. Speaker, during the first 128 years under our present Constitution, no woman's voice could be heard in debate here. The experiences, perspectives, hopes and dreams of America's women were not voiced in this body by a woman. However, hopefully, and I believe they were expressed by men, but imperfectly so, because it is very difficult for us to walk in one another's shoes if we have a gender difference or a color difference, or even a religious or national difference. It is impossible to know how the absence of women may have affected the deliberations of the first 64 Congresses of the United States. Common sense, however, suggests the effect was not beneficial.
Fortunately, today, women not only can, but do, contribute in a direct, vital and historic way to the deliberations of this Congress and other policymaking bodies throughout the Federal, State and local governments. This is as it should be and as it should have been from the beginning.
As we move forward, Mr. Speaker, more women will have the opportunity to serve in Congress and other public offices throughout the land, strengthening and enriching our democracy. This, too, is as it should be. If I know anything about women in Congress, it is that there are not enough.
Mr. Speaker, a new edition of ``Women in Congress'' will gather in one updated volume useful, historical information for teachers, students and others, chronicling the careers of the 208 women who have served in either House to date. I am proud to support this resolution which is cosponsored by all of the women of this House. As we enter the 21st Century, we must continue to mark the progress and substantial contribution that women are making in this, the most democratic legislative body on Earth, but, I might observe, not the body that has the highest percentage of women. I am confident the new volume will quickly become, like the previous edition, a tremendous historical resource, inspiring young women across America to seek careers in public service that may one day bring them all, or many of them, to this hallowed hall.
Mr. Speaker, I urge the Members of the House to support this concurrent resolution unanimously.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, we have another speaker before I close, so I reserve the balance of my time because she has not arrived yet.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur). I use ``gentleman'' and ``gentlewoman'' as a term of endearment that we use to speak of one another, but no one ought to misread that phrase. She is strong, she is courageous, she is tough, she is focused, and she is effective. She has added to this institution, as so many of the women in this book have. Mr. Speaker, she is the dean, the senior, not the oldest, he stresses, but the dean of the Democratic women in the House of Representatives.
(Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Maryland for those overly generous introductory remarks. I will read them in my lower moments.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of Concurrent Resolution 66 and offer my deep appreciation to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), who is the ranking member of the subcommittee that is moving this legislation to the floor. I thank him for his consistent and strong and forceful support of women's issues here in this Congress, including the publication of the History of Women's Service to our Nation at the Federal level.
I would also like to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney). Ohio is the first State in the Union through Oberlin College to admit women to higher education. We thank both of these really wonderful men for allowing us--the women of America--to walk alongside them as we move onward in this 21st century. If other matters in this institution flowed through such capable hands as the gentleman's from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and the gentleman's from Ohio (Mr. Ney), I think we could move other bills through this Congress in a more expeditious fashion. The entire Nation would be more properly served.
Mr. Speaker, let me point out that 11 years ago when the 101st Congress marked the bicentenary of this institution, the volume that the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) referenced, Women in Congress, 1917 to 1990, was published. The second most senior Congresswoman in the House then, Congresswoman Lindy Boggs of Louisiana, who later was appointed as the first woman Ambassador to the Vatican, took responsibility for the printing of that document.
Since that time, another 79 women have served. Thus a new edition of Women of Congress will gather in one updated volume information for teachers, students and future Members of this body, information about the 208 women out of the nearly 12,000 Americans that have served in this institution to date, throughout all of America's history, including the 61 who now serve here in the House.
Mr. Speaker, I see that the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) are here with us this afternoon. They really are a part of a very new, but growing and important part of American history.
We currently have 74 women serving in both the House and the Senate. Mr. Speaker, this would actually be a reprint of that original version, and the resolution for this was entered this past March during Women's History Month.
Let me say it is a particular privilege to remind our colleagues that this resolution is cosponsored by every single woman serving in the House, as well as every other single Member of the House Committee on Administration. I deeply thank every one of them, especially the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), who has been a force inside this institution for equal voices for women, and the gentleman from Ohio
(Mr. Ney) for allowing us to participate in this introduction and passage today.
During the first 128 years of America's history, no woman served in either House of this Congress for nearly a century and a quarter. Finally, in the early years of this past century, the 20th century, after decades of struggle for women's political and social equality, we began to see some fruit be born. In 1917, Jeanette Rankin of Montana became the first woman to serve in this House of Representatives, and then 5 years later, Rebecca Felton of Georgia became the first woman Senator. So, for our entire history, the written word and the spoken word of women in political environments is still very fresh and very new.
Since Representatives Rankin and Felton broke the congressional gender barrier, dozens of women have followed in their footsteps. We wait for the day when it will be thousands.
Mr. Speaker, as we enter the 21st century, the time has come to update and reprint ``Women in Congress.'' With it America marks the progress and substantial contribution that women are making in this most democratic legislative body on Earth.
I am confident that a revised volume will quickly become, like the previous edition, a tremendous historical resource and serve to inspire readers across America to seek careers in public service. I hope my colleagues in the House support this resolution. It is important especially that we do this and thus introduced this resolution during Women's History Month in March; and thus the concurrent resolution that I have introduced would provide for the reprinting of that revised edition of the House document.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask my colleagues to support this resolution to reprint and update the edition of Women in Congress, 1917 to 1990, to make it current for this new 21st century, when all opportunities are available to young women and men across our country, and, indeed, America is an ideal for so much of the world to follow.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to thank the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for her remarks. She does credit to this Congress, credit to Ohio, credit to her district, and certainly credit to her gender. It is a privilege to be her colleague in the Congress of the United States.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Millender-McDonald), cochair of the Congressional Caucus for Womens' Issues, who herself does an extraordinary job.
Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to lend my support and thanks to the chairman and the ranking member, those two men who have seen the need and who have been very sensitive to the women of this House and past women by bringing this H. Con. Res. 66 to the House today.
I rise, Mr. Speaker, to support this resolution concerning the revision of the document, Women in Congress, 1917 to 1990. This book chronicles the biographies of the 129 women who served in the House and Senate during that period, but since that printing, another 79 women have served in Congress. The contributions of these women need to be recorded for present-day significance and posterity.
The outstanding women who served and are serving in the House and Senate come from different walks of life. They are lawyers, teachers, social workers, mothers, doctors, veterans, child care providers, grandmothers, all serving in various roles and serving in this House. Their stories need to be told.
We will begin with Jeanette Rankin, the first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in March of 1917, 3 years before the ratification of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Another pioneer was Edith Nourse Rogers, who served in Congress from 1925 to 1960 for a total of 35 years until her death. Shirley Chisholm broke the color barrier in 1969 when she became the first African American woman elected to the House, and Carol Moseley-Braun was the first African American woman in the Senate. These women and all women serve in Congress as role models for current and future generations of girls and women.
We want and need women to pursue public service in all segments of government, especially in the House and Senate. We are 61 strong in the House and 13 in the Senate, which makes up 74, and we want to see those numbers grow. As the cochair of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues, we are certainly the voice of American women, monitoring legislation that addresses their health, education, children, child care and family needs.
{time} 1700
Women have come to appreciate the advocacy of our work. While we have achieved many victories since 1917, Mr. Speaker, we still have a long way to go, especially in the area of pay equity and health research and delivery.
Today being Pay Equity Day, Congress has not been able to successfully pass legislation to make sure that women receive equal pay for comparable work. So our job is not over. We will not rest until our daughters and granddaughters obtain the right to be paid equally for comparable work.
Mr. Speaker, we thank all of the outstanding men who have brought this to the floor today.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella).
(Mrs. MORELLA asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)
Mrs. MORELLA. It is a pleasure for me to appear, Mr. Speaker, to express my support for this concurrent resolution.
I want to thank my colleague, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), for bringing the issue to the floor. I want to thank our ranking member, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), who is handling the bill, and certainly the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for handling the bill on the majority side.
One hundred years ago, the 101st Congress printed ``Women in Congress, 1917-1990,'' a collection of photographs and biographies of the 129 women who had served in the House and Senate.
Since 1989, 79 women have been elected to Congress. Printing a new edition of ``Women in Congress'' makes sense. It would update this historical information for teachers, students, and others about the 208 women who have served to date, including the 61 now in the House and 13 in the Senate.
Mention has been made by my colleague about the first woman who was elected to Congress, who, incidentally, was a Republican, Jeannette Rankin from the State of Montana, who was elected before women had the right to vote. They could vote in her State, but they could not vote nationally until 1920. Incidentally, she voted against two world wars, so she was an historic figure.
There was Edith Nourse Rogers, who holds the record for length of service by a woman in Congress, 35 years in the House.
But Mr. Speaker, we need to also do some correcting in the new edition. For instance, my colleague, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), was actually elected in 1989, and she is the first Hispanic woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Equally necessary as recognizing trailblazers is recognizing the women who, in 2001, fill only 13 percent of the elected Federal positions. So even though we think that we have added a lot of women, we still only have 13 percent of elected Federal positions.
I really believe that despite this disparity in representation, these women in Congress also serve as role models. I think it is very important that they have that opportunity to demonstrate to other young women that they, too, can serve their country in public service. By updating the ``Women in Congress'' publication and sharing our stories with schools, libraries, and constituents, we help to open doors for those who will follow and lead.
I urge my colleagues to support this House concurrent resolution. Again, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for introducing it.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
As has been pointed out time and time again in our conversations, in 1989, the first time that this book was authorized to be printed as a House document, there were only 31 women serving in the Congress; 29 in the House, two in the Senate. Since that time, the number of women serving in each body has steadily increased, although not fast enough.
As the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) pointed out, 70 women have served in Congress throughout just the last 10 years, the last time that this book was published.
But numbers alone do not adequately tell the story. That is why the printing of this book and this history is so important. It memorializes in detail and with illustrations the invaluable contributions women have made for many years as Members of Congress. Each in different and invaluable ways has made and continues to make a tremendous contribution to our country, and particularly to the constituents whom we serve.
There is no question that each has made an everlasting difference to Congress as an institution, and to the many issues which they have advocated, and indeed, have arisen before this body and our Nation.
I want to thank in particular the sponsors of the bill, including the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), and additionally I would like to thank all of the cosponsors, including the members of the Committee on the House Administration, both on the majority, the gentleman from Ohio
(Mr. Ney), and the minority, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), and their staffs, who have worked so hard to bring this bill to the floor today.
Although I love and respect the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), I would like to point out that the dean of the women in Congress is in fact the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Roukema), a Republican.
I hope that soon one of our newest members of the United States Congress is the one sitting right behind me, Patricia Lehtinen, my daughter, who I hope will serve in my district, and I hope that my constituents bring me back many years to come.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, it looks to me like the young Ms. Lehtinen is probably 10, 11, 12 years old?
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. HOYER. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I would tell the gentleman from Maryland, she is 13.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I apologize. I am a long way away.
That means that apparently our distinguished acting chair intends to serve at least another 12 years.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. If the gentleman will continue to yield, Mr. Speaker, perhaps we could add a little amendment to the United States Constitution and make that change. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentlewoman.
Mr. Speaker, last week we passed a resolution which would update the book which includes African Americans; or actually, 2 weeks ago. This week we will appropriately recognize the women who have served.
As the father of three daughters, all adults, and a grandfather of two young women as well as two young men, those who have said that the women who serve are role models I think are absolutely correct, not only for young women who may want to go into public service, but for young women who aspire to reach the heights that their talents will allow them to. It is important that we nurture in these extraordinary American women the ability to succeed; the ability to make a very significant contribution; the ability to be equal, as Jefferson surely would have said today.
So I am pleased to rise in support of this resolution. It is appropriate, it is timely, and it is important for all Americans.
Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support legislation that would abolish a Depression-era ban that prevents banks from offering interest on business checking accounts. Small businesses are hit particularly hard by the current prohibition, because they are typical unable to help larger depositors circumvent the prohibition. While larger businesses have the financial resources to use sweep arrangements, these products are not offered to small businesses because they cannot make the minimum investment necessary to participate in ``sweeps.''
As part of a small, family-owned home building business in Michigan, I know firsthand how slim the margins of operating a small business can be. This is why the Small Business Interest Checking Act is so important to our hometown retailers and businesses because it would give these smaller operations the opportunity to finally earn a much-
needed market rate of return on their deposits. And any businessman or women in the country will tell you what a difference an extra percentage or two can make to their bottom line.
As approved by the Committee on Financial Services, the Small Business Interest Checking Act contains language completely repealing the prohibition two years after enactment. The phase-in is included to assist institutions that currently offer sweep account arrangements, which are often based on multi-year contractual agreements. While I am personally of the preference that small business would benefit the most from legislation providing banks the voluntary option to pay interest on business checking accounts without a delay, I strongly support H.R. 974 and encourage my House colleagues do the same.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 974 and I would like to take just a moment to address a provision affecting the twenty-
two industrial banks in my State of California.
Chairman Oxley was good enough to include in the Committee reported version of H.R. 974 a provision I requested offering a measure of equity and fairness to these twenty-two industrial banks as we implement a national policy permitting interest on business checking accounts. I want to thank him and his staff for their assistance in this matter.
This provision, in Section 3 of H.R. 974, has now been amended to reflect comments offered by the Federal Reserve. The provision amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act by adding a new paragraph (3) to Section 2 of that Act (PL-93-100).
H.R. 974 would therefore permit a California industrial bank to offer to any account holder, including a business entity, interest bearing negotiable orders of withdrawal--commonly called NOW accounts--so long as applicable California law continues to prohibit industrial banks from offering demand deposit accounts--which it does, and so long as the California industrial bank is not an affiliate of any company or companies whose aggregate assets are more than ten percent of the total assets of that particular industrial bank.
As a practical matter, I believe this provision would enable all of California's twenty-two industrial banks to offer NOW accounts to business entities, if they so choose.
California industrial bank law has been--and remains in its most recent reform--explicit in its prohibition against industrial banks accepting demand deposit (checking) accounts. Also, for the most part, California's industrial banks are small depository institutions and few have operating subsidiaries or own other companies. It is also apparently the case that no California industrial bank currently has operating subsidiaries or owns a company or companies whose aggregate assets exceed 10% of that bank's total assets. While this later limitation may be somewhat restrictive with respect to the growth of any existing operating subsidy, or the addition of operating subsidies in the future, California's industrial banks have indicated they are prepared to work within this particular limitation.
Finally, it is important to note that those few California industrial banks currently choosing to offer NOW accounts to individuals and charitable organizations are subject to regulations, including standard reserve requirements, promulgated by the Federal Reserve System. In permitting these industrial banks to also offer NOW accounts to business entities, H.R. 974 changes none of these requirements.
I thank the distinguished Manager for permitting me to make this clarification and for his support of fairness and equity for California's industrial banks.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose H.R. 974, the Small Business Checking Act of 2001, which represents an example of mixed-up budget priorities. It is particularly inappropriate to consider this extraordinarily unbalanced legislation under suspension of the rules, denying my colleagues who are not members of the Financial Services Committee an opportunity to have their concerns addressed.
I agree that the Depression-era ban on interest-bearing business checking accounts serves no public policy purpose, and I would have supported repeal of the prohibition, provided it had been accomplished in a clean bill. However, I cannot in good conscience support this bill because it contains a provision that results in a transfer of taxpayer money to a very small segment of the country's largest and most powerful depository institutions, while other budget priorities are left unfunded or underfunded.
The provision permitting the Federal Reserve banks to pay interest on the sterile reserves maintained by depository institutions in Federal Reserve Banks will result in the annual transfer of about $100 million in real taxpayer dollars to about 1700 of the approximately 21,000 depository institutions in this country. Thirty of the largest, most powerful financial institutions will receive one-third of the interest that the Federal Reserve Banks will pay out each year.
The Administration has proposed a broad-based tax cut proposal that will consume $2 trillion of the budget surplus. We do not know how we will pay for the President's tax cut, while meeting the other budget priorities of the Administration, addressing critical needs of the American public, paying down the debt and protecting Social Security and Medicare. Yet, the Small Business Checking Act will make the job harder by using $1.1 billion of the surplus over ten years to provide a benefit to a very small subset of the American taxpayers. The $1.1 billion could be put to better use by providing adequate funding for combating AIDS in Africa or restoring part of the $2 billion in housing cuts the Administration has proposed or, even, tax relief for the average taxpayer.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shays). The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 66.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
____________________
