Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today made the following opening statement at the full committee hearing on the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).  The FHFA is conservator of the Government Sponsored Enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Edward DeMarco, Acting Director of the FHFA, will appear before the committee as… Read more »

Today Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, reintroduced the FHA Emergency Fiscal Solvency Act. The legislation, co-sponsored by Representative Michael E. Capuano, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, is designed to strengthen FHA and to help ensure its long-term solvency. In recent years, the agency has stepped… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released a letter to Edward DeMarco, Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)  raising questions about FHFA’s recent decision to prohibit Fannie Mae from moving forward with a plan to save taxpayers and borrowers  from unnecessarily high costs related to … Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today welcomed the testimony of Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.  Mr. Bernanke appears before the Committee today as required by the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978.  The complete text of Ranking Member Waters’ opening statement… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, led committee Democrats today in calling for an open debate on the effects of sequestration, requesting that all Committee members put aside theoretical discussions of “Budget Views and Estimates.”  The complete text of her opening statement… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released a letter to Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Thomas Curry, Comptroller of the Currency, seeking additional, detailed information from the regulators about the termination of the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR). Ranking Member Waters has been a leading advocate for… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder commending recent work by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and banking regulators in investigating and prosecuting wrongdoing related to LIBOR manipulation, money laundering and violations of the… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released the following statement in response to the announcement by the Department of Justice that it has filed a civil suit against Standard & Poor’s Rating Services (S&P): “I want to commend the Justice Department for taking long overdue action to hold S&P accountable for its… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, today sent the attached letter to Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the committee, requesting that he hold a hearing about the abrupt end of the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) process. On Jan. 7, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Board announced a settlement in which… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released a letter to Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Thomas Curry, comptroller of the currency, asking for detailed information about the abrupt termination of the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) process. Ranking Member Waters, a leading advocate for foreclosure… Read more »

  Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC), today released the following statement in response to the news that President Barack Obama will nominate Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).  The CFPB was established by the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was drafted and… Read more »

  Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today welcomed President Obama’s nomination of Mary Jo White to be the next chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stating: I offer my congratulations to Mary Jo White on being nominated to chair the SEC. Ms. White has had a very distinguished record… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released the following statement after the Committee’s first markup.  In her statement, she praises the bipartisan tone of the markup but also responds to a claim by the Committee majority made in a press release strong issued last night. I appreciate the bipartisan nature of today’s… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement today in response to the announcement by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of a rule governing actions by mortgage servicers: The rule is a strong first step towards limiting widespread predatory practices by the mortgage servicing industry, which have led to… Read more »

(January 16, 2013) – A contingent of 12 Members of the House of Representatives today filed an amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in support of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Resource Extraction Rule. The rule is based on a provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The rule is designed to… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today announced the Democratic Members of the subcommittees of the FSC.  The memberships of the subcommittees were determined by an open bidding process within the Democratic caucus of the committee.  The process was guided in part by Members’ years of service to the committee, but it also… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43), Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee, released the following statement today in response to reports that the American International Group Inc. (AIG) is considering joining a lawsuit against the U.S. government claiming that the terms of the bailout were unfair: “It is simply outrageous that the board of the American International Group,… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43), Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the $8.5 billion foreclosure review settlement between the OCC, the Federal Reserve Board and ten mortgage servicers: "The settlement announced today between the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Board and ten major… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank and Congressman Mike Capuano today introduced legislation which would merge the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). "The existence of a separate SEC and CFTC is the single largest structural defect in our regulatory system," said Frank. "Unfortunately, this is deeply rooted in major cultural,… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today released the following statement in response to the news that Mary Schapiro plans to step down from her position as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mary Schapiro took over the chairmanship of an agency that was failing in its job and she has made major strides towards establishing it as an effective regulator.  She has had the… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today released the following statement in response to the announcement by the Federal Open Market Committee that it would continue its program of quantitative easing.  In its statement, the FOMC specifically points to its statutory dual mandate to “foster maximum employment and price stability.” I am pleased about today’s decision by the… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today issued the following statement calling on federal and state officials to reconsider decisions to prosecute financial institutions for wrongdoing committed by smaller institutions which the larger institutions absorbed at the urging of federal officials during the financial crisis.  A recent example is the decision by New York Attorney General… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today released the following statement thanking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for proposing regulatory changes that will eliminate an unintended ambiguity in the Credit Card Act that could have worked to the disadvantage of stay-at-home spouses or partners applying for credit cards.  The CFPB obtained jurisdiction of this issue in July, 2011, when regulatory supervision of Truth and Lending Act functions were transferred to the new agency.

Congressman Barney Frank today released an analysis of the provisions in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which address the issue of financial institutions which were thought to be “too big to fail.”  The research was conducted at Mr. Frank’s request by the minority staff of the House Financial Services Committee. The paper is presented in response… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today issued the following statement in response to recent inaccurate claims by Mitt Romney about the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. During the Presidential debate on Wednesday, Romney asserted that the financial reform law “designates a number of banks as too big to fail, and they're effectively guaranteed by the federal… Read more »