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Press Releases

In Floor Remarks, Waters Denounces Partisan Change to Small Bank Policy Statement

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In remarks on the House floor today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, led Democrats in opposition to H.R. 3791, which would increase by fivefold the asset threshold under the Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement, encouraging more consolidation of small community banks and endangering their safety and soundness. In her…

Committee Democrats Stand Together Against Harmful Republican Attacks on Consumer Protection, Financial Reform

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Today, Democrats on the Financial Services Committee voted against Republican attempts to weaken consumer protection and Wall Street reform in effort to produce illusory budget savings as part of the Majority’s failed budget process. The party-line votes were as follows: H.R. 1486, the Taking Account of Bureaucrats’ Spending Act (33-20): The bill would repeal the current…

Waters Opposes Legislation to Weaken Wall Street Reforms

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At a Financial Services Committee markup of two bills designed to undercut the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, denounced the measures as efforts to disarm our financial regulators and weaken reforms established after the 2008 crisis. Waters criticized both…

Waters Applauds DOL Effort to Protect Americans’ Retirement Savings

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Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement on the Labor Department’s final rule on investment advice for retirement assets that was released today: “I am pleased that after five years of thoughtful consideration, thousands of letters, and over one hundred meetings the Labor Department has released a final…

Waters Calls for Flood Insurance Debt Relief in Fiscal Year 2017 Appropriations

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Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee led 32 colleagues in a letter calling on Congress to forgive $23 billion in debt at the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) during the fiscal year 2017 appropriations process. “The NFIP’s current debt is the direct result of Congressional design and it is time that Congress takes…

Rep. Waters Unveils Landmark Legislation to End Homelessness in America

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Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, introduced landmark legislation that would provide significant resources to end homelessness in America. The measure is a bold effort to declare what is really needed to address this crisis. The legislation provides $13.27 billion in new funding over five years to several programs and…

Waters Opening Statement at Full Committee Hearing on the State of the International Financial System

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At today’s Financial Services Committee hearing with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) lauded the efforts of U.S. Treasury officials and Democratic congressional leaders on the recent ratification of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota reform package, after a 5-year delay due to Republican obstruction. Waters delivered these remarks during…

Waters Urges Adequate Funding for Wall Street Sheriff in Fiscal Year 2017

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Tags: SEC

This week, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, and Carolyn Maloney, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises, led 47 colleagues in urging additional funding for the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for fiscal year 2017. In a letter to the House Appropriations Committee, the Members…

Waters Calls For Increased Funding for Federal Housing Programs in Fiscal 2017

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Tags: HUD

This week, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee that oversees federal housing programs, urged her colleagues to meet the housing needs of the country’s most vulnerable populations during the federal appropriations process for fiscal 2017. She proposed funding increases for a variety of federal housing programs, notably the Department…

At Cordray Hearing, Waters Applauds CFPB’s Work and Accomplishments

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In opening remarks during today’s full Committee hearing with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee, praised the agency’s work to diligently protect consumers and ensure fairness in the financial system, even in the face of Republican efforts to undermine, eliminate and render…

Top Financial Services Democrats Request Updated GAO Diversity Study

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Tags: GAO

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…

Ranking Member Waters Responds to Dodd-Frank “Alternative”

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Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement in response to the Committee Chairman’s dangerous plan to roll back the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: “This is just another attempt by the majority to gut administration policies that have helped millions of Americans. The Dodd-Frank law was…

Waters Responds to Flood Insurance Affordability Reports

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Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, responded to two separate reports released today from the Government Accountability Office and the Federal Emergency Management Agency on flood insurance affordability and options for providing assistance to policyholders. Waters requested the GAO report in 2014 after FEMA failed to complete a…

During Markup, Waters Calls on Republicans to Stop Undermining Dodd-Frank, Underscores Urgent Need to Address Homelessness in America

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In opening remarks during a Financial Services Committee markup today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the Committee’s Ranking Member, both scolded Committee Republicans on their attempts to once again roll back investor protections and also called for the Committee to focus on addressing poverty and homelessness in the United States. Waters noted that while some of the measures…

Brown, Waters Lead Call For SEC To Strengthen Disclosure Of Corporate Board Diversity

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Tags: SEC

Leading Democratic lawmakers today urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to speed up its review of a proposal that would require companies to provide more specific details about the diversity of their corporate boards. The proposal, which nine public pension fund administrators submitted to the SEC almost a year ago, encourages the agency to require companies to disclose board…

Waters Weighs in on Punitive Smoking Ban in Public Housing

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Tags: HUD

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to Julián Castro, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), urging the Department to seriously reconsider the punitive approach outlined in its proposal to ban smoking in all public housing developments across the country. Ranking Member Waters’…

Waters Announces $213.5 Million Grant to Help California Homeowners at Risk of Foreclosure

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Tags: HUD

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today announced that the State of California has been awarded $213.5 million under the Hardest Hit Fund, a federal program that provides targeted aid to mortgage borrowers in order to prevent avoidable foreclosures. Through her leadership role in the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Waters led…

Waters to FEMA: Flood Insurance Premiums Are a Top Concern of Mine

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Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to Craig Fugate, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), urging him to provide Congress a robust affordability framework in a timely manner so that proposals can be considered ahead of the 2017 reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).…

Payday Loans Are Toxic Like the Water of Flint Michigan

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In opening remarks during a Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee hearing, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee, associated the hazards of previously unregulated financial products, such as payday lending, to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is preparing regulations for…

At Yellen Hearing, Waters Commends Progress, Notes Significant Work Remains

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In opening remarks during today’s semi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins hearing with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, commended the progress made under the leadership of the Federal Reserve, Democrats in Congress, and the Obama administration, but noted that “significant work remains” to elevate the…

Waters: Banks that Break the Law Don’t Deserve a “Get out of Jail Free” Card

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In remarks on the House floor today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, led Democrats in opposition to H.R. 766, the so-called “Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2015”, a dangerous measure that would severely limit the Justice Department’s ability to investigate and prosecute bank fraud. In her remarks, Waters…

Waters Denounces Republican Package of Anti-Investor Bills

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Delivering remarks on the House floor in opposition to H.R. 1675 today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of Committee on Financial Services, led Democrats in denouncing the inaptly-named “Capital Markets Improvement Act of 2016,” a bill that includes several provisions that instead of improving our capital markets, would actually harm investors, the SEC and small…

Waters: H.R. 3700 Is a Step in the Right Direction

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During floor consideration of H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2015, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of Financial Services Committee, urged support of the bill, which seeks to enact several incremental changes across a number of federal housing programs that will allow affordable housing providers to better serve low-income families in…

Waters: GOP Budget Views Ignores the Progress Made Since 2008 Crisis and Offers No Solutions

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Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, rebuked Committee Republicans for putting forth budget views that ignore the significant progress that has been made since the 2008 crisis. Waters highlighted that the Republican budget failed to provide real solutions that will address the problems of the racial wealth gap, homelessness,…

Waters Encouraged by HR. 2901 Discussions, but Concerns Remain

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At today’s Financial Services Committee hearing entitled, “How to Create a More Robust and Private Flood Insurance Marketplace,” Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, discussed private sector involvement in the flood insurance market. Ranking Member Waters was encouraged by the discussion to improve the Flood Insurance Market Parity…

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