Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, announced the following Democratic-led, bipartisan bills that passed during yesterday’s full Committee markup aimed at safeguarding consumers and taking steps to prevent additional bank failures following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic, and Signature Bank last year.… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, released this statement following the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recently released report on the Federal Home Loan Banks’ (FHLBs) role in the lead up to the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic. After the bank failures last year, Waters and… Read more »

This week, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, accepted the 2023 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Congressional Champion Awards from the Opportunity Finance Network. This award honors Members of Congress who have been leaders in support of the CDFI industry.       “It’s an honor to receive… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) expressing concerns about instances in which the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other housing and property technology (PropTech), such as automated valuation models (AVMs), online housing platforms, tenant screening… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, and Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to the Government and Accountability Office (GAO) calling on the office to begin a study and an investigation into the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) sent a letter to the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighting the severe lack of progress our nation’s federally managed pension funds have made in boosting representation of diverse asset management firms over the years. In the… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting that the agency conduct a review of the risks that seniors experiencing housing insecurity face and the federal programs that exist to prevent homelessness among this population. The request also urges the agency to identify… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, announced the House passage of “The Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act,” which included her bill, H.R. 8483, “The Wildfire Insurance Coverage Study Act of 2022.” H.R. 8483 requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, announced the following update to the schedule for the month of January: RESCHEDULED - January 19 at 10:00 AM ET: The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will convene for a virtual hearing entitled, “Ensuring Equitable Delivery of Disaster Benefits to Vulnerable… Read more »

The House Financial Services Committee passed eleven bills to protect investors and reduce conflicts of interest born out of payment for order flow, support manufactured housing communities, fight for everyone’s right to vote, promote de novo depository institutions, and strengthen protections for the LIBOR transition.  The following bills passed the Committee en bloc #1 by a vote… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, issued the following statements on a new Government Accountability… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, Congressman Al Green (D-TX), Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL), Chair of the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Chair of the Task Force on Financial Technology, and Congressman Josh Gottheimer… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets, and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, issued the… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, released a statement on a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report titled, “Rental Assistance Demonstration: HUD Needs to Take Action to Improve Metrics and Ongoing Oversight” (GAO-18-123). The GAO report was requested in 2015 by Ranking Member Waters to review the first component of… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, released a statement on a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report titled, “Rental Housing: Improvements Needed to Better Monitor the Moving to Work Demonstration, Including Effects on Tenants” (GAO-18-150). The GAO report was requested in 2015 by Ranking Member Waters, who has been… Read more »

Today, following the public release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled “Financial Services Industry: Trends in Management Representation of Minorities and Women and Diversity Practices, 2007-2015,” Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on… Read more »

Today, following the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) release of a report entitled “Large Bank Supervision: Improved Implementation of Federal Reserve Policies Could Help Mitigate Threats to Independence,” Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement: “This report is yet more evidence that the Federal… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, issued the following statement in response to a report published today by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) discussing the compensation paid to Write-Your-Own (WYO) companies that administer to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In 2014, Ranking Member Waters called on the… Read more »

On a cold rainy day last fall, dozens of people gathered in a plaza across the street from New Jersey's state Capitol. They held press conferences and slept overnight in lawn chairs. Everyone had come to make the same point: They'd made it through Superstorm Sandy, which hit the shores of New Jersey and New York in October 2012. But three years later, many hadn't made it home. Doug… Read more »

Leading Democrats today requested that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) update an April 2013 study on diversity in the financial services industry and agencies. In a letter to GAO, House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA), Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations… Read more »

The head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had several testy exchanges with House Republicans on Wednesday at a hearing held to examine allegations of discrimination and retaliation at the consumer agency. CFPB Director Richard Cordray appeared before the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee to address charges that have surfaced in recent months… Read more »

Today, Congressmen Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee announced the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on medical credit cards and related… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement in response to today’s GAO report on the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR).  The study was conducted as the result of a 2012 request by Congresswoman Waters, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Reps. Brad Miller (D-NC) and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL). Waters released… Read more »

A new government report suggests that errors made by banks and their agents during foreclosures might have been significantly higher than was previously believed when regulators halted a national review of the banks’ mortgage servicing operations. When banking regulators decided to end the independent foreclosure review last year, most banks had not completed the examinations of their… Read more »

In her opening statement today at a hearing of the House Committee on Financial Services, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the Committee, contested the notion that regulatory oversight is an impediment to recovery in the housing finance market. The title of the hearing called by the Republican majority is “Building a Sustainable Housing Finance System: Examining… Read more »