Bush signs corporate responsibility bill

Описание: (30 Jul 2002)

1. Bush walks into East Room
2. Crowd applauds and sits down
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) US President George W. Bush
"Now with a tough new law we will act against those who have shaken confidence in our markets. Using the full authority of government to expose corruption, punish wrongdoers and defend the rights and interests of American workers and investors."
4. Cutaway of Bush talking
5. Cutaway of audience
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) US President George W. Bush
"This new law sends a very clear message that all concerned must heed. This law says to every dishonest corporate leader, you will be exposed and punished. The era of low standards and false profits is over. No boardroom in America is above or beyond the law."
7. Cutaway of Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil
8. Wide cutaway of Bush speaking
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) US President George W. Bush
"Every corporate official who has chosen to commit a crime can expect to face the consequences. No more easy money for corporate criminals, just hard time."
10. Cutaway
11. Bush walks over to signing table, signs bill

STORYLINE:

Hoping to restore investor confidence, President George W. Bush signed into law Tuesday the most far-reaching government crackdown on business fraud since the post-Depression era.

Speaking at an East Room signing ceremony while lawmakers from both parties looked on, Bush said the new legislation issues a warning to corporate criminals: No more easy money...just hard time.

A wave of corporate accounting scandals in an election year helped propel the reforms to approval in Congress with extraordinary speed.

The administration was eager to enact new laws after the scandals threatened to damage the White House politically, and drove markets down.

The records of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, both former corporate executives, have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks as well.

House Republicans last week accepted most of the stricter parts of a bill passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate to create the final version.

The measure tightens regulation of companies' financial reporting and provides new oversight of independent auditors.

It does so by adding criminal penalties and prison terms for corporate fraud and destroying evidence such as document shredding, imposing restrictions on accounting firms that do consulting work for corporations whose books they audit, requiring top company executives to vouch personally for the accuracy of their companies' reports and creating new rules for financial analysts designed to prevent conflicts of interest.

The measure also establishes an independent board, with subpoena power, to oversee the accounting industry.

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