Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
258225333
label
Federal Deposit Insurance Act Amendment H.Res. 941, H.R. 15073, P.L. 91-508
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
258225333
contentType
document
title
Federal Deposit Insurance Act Amendment H.Res. 941, H.R. 15073, P.L. 91-508
citationUrl
collections
White House Staff Member and Office Files (Nixon Administration)
William E. Timmons's Files
thumbnailUrl
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
258225333
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
646299d39d9e2fa9
ocrText
fed Deposit Ins act, amend
HR15073
H Res 941
PL91-508
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
GONEIDENTIAL
October 10, 1970
MEMORANDUM FOR CHUCK COLSON
FROM:
DICK COOK
SUBJECT:
Credit Reporting Legislation
Attached is a memo I requested Treasury to prepare in
order to clarify previous information which resulted in
misleading and erroneous conclusions on the manner in
which legislation of importance to the Associated Credit
Bureaus was handled in conference.
While I regret the embarassment caused by the previous
erroneous information passed to us by Treasury, it should
be understood that Treasury was neither deeply involved
nor responsible for this legislation -- therefore could
not be expected to be "wired in" on the issue. Neverthe-
less, the White House can and should take a full measure
of credit for having brought "discreet" pressure on a
member of the Minority staff of the House Committee on
Banking and Currency who otherwise would not have appre-
clated the magnitude of the problem to an industry
friendly to this Administration. Because of my former
close relationship to that staff, I had to stay in the
background and at a good distance from the conference.
It should be apparent, therefore, that Henry did an
excellent job in a difficult tug-of-war between a trade
association which itself was at odds with its own Washing-
ton representative.
Attachment.
cc: Henry Cashen
George Bell
CONFIDENTIAL
Determined to be an
Administrative Marking
E.O. 13526, Sec. 1.2
By
NARA, Date
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
H.R. 15073
Fed Deposit amendment Inc. ach
H Per. 941
PL 91.508
10/26/70
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
OF
THE
THE TREASURY
foreign Bank
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220
1789
Secrecy
October 9, 1970
fell Dep amendment Ins act
MEMORANDUM FOR: Dick Cook
Special Assistant to the President
FROM:
Phil Potter
Congressional Relations
SUBJECT:
House-Senate Conference on H.R. 15073,
Amendment on Credit Reporting Legislation.
I determined not to include the information I obtained
on this amendment in the White House Report on Secret
Foreign Bank Accounts primarily because Treasury was not
involved in working with that bill either before or during
the Conference, and secondly because the information I
obtained was too lengthy to be included.
On balance, the Associated Credit Bureaus should
consider the bill reported a victory for their efforts.
There was a question immediately following the Conference
concerning amendments made to section 607 and section 617.
It was thought these amendments could result in striking
down the doctrine of "qualified privilege." Section 607
required consumer credit reporting agencies to follow
reasonable procedures to assure accuracy of information
included in reports. Section 617, as approved by the Senate,
made credit agencies liable for gross negligence. A Sullivan
amendment struck "gross" thus making agencies liable for simple
negligence. I was informed by Graham Northup, Minority Staff,
House Banking, that all of the interested groups have reviewed
the language and reported back that the simple negligence
applies only to the reasonableness of the procedures adopted
and does not apply to the resulting report, i.e., if information
contained in the report is inaccurate and causes any consumer
damage the agency is liable only if they fail to follow proce-
dures in obtaining the information, it is not liable merely
for reporting the information.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- 2 -
The other major problem raised by the Associated
Credit Bureaus was whether banks and finance companies
were included in the definition of "consumer credit
reporting agency" to the extent they would be barred
from exchanging, informally, information among themselves
based on a business or personal relationship. Language
is included in the report that it was the intent of the
Conferees that the definition not be construed to include
insured financial institutions which exchange information
among other like institutions with whom they do business.
If a bank does get into the business of issuing reports,
for general usage, they would be covered. Associated
Credit Bureau people seemed satisfied with the outcome.
Graham Northup gave me the following information on
how this situation developed in Conference and why the
bill was reported out as it was. He had worked with
Cashen's and Knaur's Office to obtain the support of the
Associated Credit Bureaus for the Wylie bill. Both the
Wylie and the Sullivan billswere hung up in Subcommittee.
When S. 823 was tacked to the Secret Foreign Bank Accounts
bill an objection to the Conference was made on the House
Floor and Chairman Patman sought the approval of his
Committee under the McCormack rule. During that Committee
meeting, several members objected to the approach of S. 823
and preferred that the Chairman request Mrs. Sullivan to
refer her bill and Wylie's bill to the full Committee for
Executive action following the recess. It was thought under
that procedure that the Wylie approach would prevail. Chairman
Patman apparently indicated that he would oppose consideration
and approval of S. 823 in the Conference on Secret Foreign
Bank Accounts, in order to try to get full Committee action
on the Wylie bill.
When the Conferees broke for lunch at noon, conversation
which I overheard between Paul Nelson and Graham Northup would
indicate that the game plan was still to block any consideration
of S. 823 on Wednesday even though it would mean not completing
the Conference until after the recess. Patman was scheduled
to leave that afternoon.
Apparently when the Conferees convened at 2:00 p.m.,
Patman announced he was leaving and left his and Mr. Barrett's
proxies with Mrs. Sullivan. Mrs. Sullivan as Chairman of the
House Conferees proceeded to consideration of S. 823. A minor
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- 3 -
amendment involving medical information was approved and
Wylie then moved to block any further consideration of
amendments to S. 823. Mrs. Sullivan's staff had apparently
made the amendments available to Ken McLean and discussed
them with him but none of the Republican Conferees had
seen any of the amendments. Senator Proxmire was apparently
prepared to go along with most of the amendments. Mr. Reuss
voted with Mrs. Sullivan to continue consideration of the
amendments and then left giving his proxy to Mrs. Sullivan.
The Senate Republican Conferees were apparently instrumental
in helping block two of the most problematic amendments but
the other amendments were approved by the Democratic Conferees
on both sides.
I add this cautionary note with regard to this memorandum.
The Treasury Department was not involved in these bills at
any stage except with regard to one minor problem involving
use by IRS of credit reports for location of assets. Our
views were made known to the Committees sometime ago but
were not accepted by the Conferees. The information contained
in this memorandum is merely a report of conversations I had
with Paul Nelson and Graham Northrup because you had requested
same details on what occurred last Wednesday. If you want
any more details or need to check any of this information
you should contact Graham or Paul.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum