"Overwhelming support for this bill shows that the message from the grassroots was heard loud and clear on Capitol Hill. The public's confidence has been badly shaken and legislative action to crack down on corporate fraud and abuse is a part of building back some of that confidence," Grassley said.
Grassley took a leading role in trying to strengthen the Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency Act of 2002, which passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate today. The House voted 432 to 3 for the bill. The Senate voted 99 to 0 for the final version of the legislation. President Bush said he will sign the reform measure.
During Senate debate on the proposal earlier this month, Grassley secured a provision that makes federal whistleblower protections available to employees of publicly-traded companies for the first time ever. No such protections exist under current law. The new protections are modeled after whistleblower protections Grassley has championed for airline employees.
Grassley also sponsored amendments to the corporate accounting bill that would have created an oversight auditor to spot-check the accounting practices inside publicly-traded corporations, prohibited public auditors from opining on the financial effects of tax shelters sold to the same clients they audit, and reclaimed high-dollar bonuses to corporate executives after their corporations declare bankruptcy. These Grassley amendments were not allowed a vote by the managers of the Senate bill. Grassley said he will look for other opportunities to advance these initiatives.
These are Grassley's latest efforts to protect the employees of potentially troubled companies. Earlier this month, the Finance Committee passed his legislation, the National Employee Savings and Trust Equity Guarantee (NESTEG) Act, introduced in February. The bill tightens protections for retirement plan participants in the future in light of the collapse of the Enron Corp., WorldCom, Global Crossing and other similarly situated companies.
Grassley also has worked to improve corporate accountability on the tax front. In June, the Finance Committee passed bipartisan legislation from Grassley to prevent corporations from nominally moving overseas to avoid taxes and to rein in abusive tax shelters designed to avoid paying taxes.