IV
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 300
Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the economic collapse of Enron
Corporation.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 23, 2002
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas submitted the following concurrent resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the economic
collapse of Enron Corporation.
Whereas the economic collapse of Enron Corporation caused
the layoff of thousands of employees and devastated the
retirement savings of many of the company’s employees
and retirees who were invested in the company’s retire-
ment plan, which qualified for favorable tax treatment
under section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986;
Whereas employees who participated in the company’s section
401(k) retirement plan received matching contributions
from the company in the form of Enron stock;
Whereas the company’s executives allegedly engaged in exten-
sive selling of Enron stock prior to the company’s col-
lapse;
•HCON 300 IH
Whereas those executives allegedly failed to alert company
employees participating in the company’s section 401(k)
retirement plan of the reasons that the executives were
extensively selling Enron stock;
Whereas allegedly the company’s public financial disclosures
were insufficiently transparent to allow outside analysts
to give an accurate opinion regarding the value of Enron
stock;
Whereas the inadequacy of those financial disclosures alleg-
edly resulted in inflated ratings by analysts of Enron
stock;
Whereas allegedly even after the sudden resignation or dis-
missal of top executives at the company, the financial
firms that were underwriters of the company were slow
to downgrade their ratings for Enron stock;
Whereas during late October and November of 2001, the fi-
nancial firms that were advising the company with re-
spect to a potential merger, and who stood to earn large
fees from such a transaction, maintained positive ratings
for Enron stock;
Whereas days before the company filed for bankruptcy, the
company’s auditing firm, allegedly instructed its employ-
ees to destroy most of their documents related to the
company;
Whereas Congress has a responsibility to act to protect inves-
tors, workers, innocent victims, including children and
families, and the independence of financial analysts and
auditors; and
Whereas Congress should act with all deliberate speed and
diligence to protect the people of the United States and
•HCON 300 IH
the integrity of the employment and retirement systems:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring),
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Employees and
Retirees Restoration and Assistance Resolution of 2002’’.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that—
(1) a timely and thorough investigation should
be undertaken into the alleged wrongdoings related
to the economic collapse of Enron Corporation;
(2) any person, including any auditor, financial
analyst, Enron executive, accounting company, or
other company or partnership, who is found to have
illegally withheld information or disseminated mis-
leading information regarding Enron’s financial con-
dition should fully compensate the company’s em-
ployees who participated in the company’s section
401(k) retirement plan for any losses suffered by
such employees as a result of such illegal conduct;
and
(3) every effort should be made to provide fi-
nancial assistance to the workers laid off as a result
of Enron’s economic collapse.
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