A senior House Democrat on Tuesday blasted a decision by a top GOP leader to oppose the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, criticized incoming Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for changing his mind about supporting the bank after backing it in the past. "Just days after being… Read more »

House Democrats will launch a campaign Tuesday to re-authorize the Export-Import Bank even as incoming Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is discounting the measure’s chance of success. Authorization for the bank, which provides federal loans intended to boost U.S. exports, expires at the end of September. But Republicans aren’t rushing to re-up the charter, saying the bank is ill equipped… Read more »

The top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee is pushing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to examine whether U.S. banks are trying to skirt new curbs on derivatives trading. In a letter to the new head of the regulator, Timothy Massad, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said she was worried American institutions were trying to avoid new rules on derivatives trading by… Read more »

WASHINGTON — Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is urging the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to examine banks' efforts to sidestep U.S. swaps trading rules. The move comes after several recent reports examining an effort by banks to change agreements at foreign guaranteed affiliates to remove references to a guarantee by the U.S. bank to avoid new, stricter domestic oversight. The… 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 »

A bipartisan group of senators has struck a deal to extend a government insurance program for terrorist attacks. Under the proposal, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) would be extended for another seven years, but private companies would shoulder a larger share of the costs if a terrorist attack occurred, according to an aide familiar with the deal. The program is set to expire… Read more »

WASHINGTON — Rep. Maxine Waters' plan to let banks control a sole entity to issue government-backed mortgage securities is dead-on-arrival, but her proposal still significantly alters the housing reform debate. A different housing finance bill in the Senate — which envisions private-market competition for securitizing loans — has greater bipartisan support and is scheduled for a… Read more »

A top House Democrat has offered her own take on overhauling the mortgage market, introducing legislation as Congress begins to move toward comprehensive legislation. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) unveiled her spin on the bipartisan priority Thursday, dubbing it the Housing Opportunities Move the Economy Forward Act. “Reforming a 10 trillion dollar housing finance market is an… Read more »

WASHINGTON — Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., unveiled a new plan Thursday to overhaul the housing finance market, entering what's becoming a crowded field of proposals to restructure the mortgage system. The discussion draft, titled the Housing Opportunities Move the Economy Forward Act, would unwind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, like many of the competing plans in both the House and… Read more »

Yet another proposal for winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and overhauling the nation’s housing finance system will be put before Congress on Thursday, this one by Representative Maxine Waters of California, the ranking Democratic member of the Financial Services Committee. The major distinction of Ms. Waters’s proposal is that it would make the mortgage lending system more like… Read more »

Jeb Hensarling is finding out the hard way that conservative purity and running a powerful House committee don’t always mix. Even though he holds the gavel of the House Financial Services Committee, he recently had a bill yanked from under him by leadership because he wouldn’t compromise, while top priorities — like overhauling the housing finance system — are stuck in limbo because he… Read more »

Reforms to flood insurance approved by Congress in 2012 would be scaled back under a deal reached Monday by House Republicans and Democrats. The rare bipartisan deal, which GOP leaders plan to bring to the floor for a vote on Tuesday, responds to complaints from flooded-out constituents who said the 2012 law would require them to pay much more for federal flood insurance. But the… Read more »

A politically fraught fight over flood insurance has prompted a split between the House Republican leadership and a top committee chairman, forcing senior GOP lawmakers to bargain for votes instead with liberal Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), the panel’s top Democrat. GOP leaders have struggled to gain enough support to pass a House alternative to flood insurance legislation the Senate… Read more »

Representative Maxine Waters of California is urging federal banking regulators to scrutinize the sale of billions of dollars of mortgage-servicing rights to a fleet of specialty firms, a move that comes amid mounting concerns that some of the most vulnerable homeowners are facing fresh abuses in battles to save their homes. For some Americans whose home values plummeted in the depths… Read more »

House Democrats on the Financial Services Committee are calling for panel leaders to hold a hearing on the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, which they argue bolsters job and economic growth. In a letter to Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and subcommittee Chairman John Campbell (R-Calif.), 26 Democratic lawmakers said the bank is a self-sustaining agency that has… Read more »

House Democrats on the Financial Services Committee are pushing for congressional hearings on tackling poverty and income inequality. In a letter sent to Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) on Monday, all 27 Democrats on the finance panel pushed for committee hearings on how Congress can “improve wages, housing adequacy and affordability and increased access to the financial… Read more »

A group of 17 Democrats from the House Financial Services Committee Monday called for a full committee hearing to address problems stemming from and related to the recent Target data breach that could have affected up to 110 million consumers. The 17 Democrats drafted a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, requesting a hearing to… Read more »

WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers on Monday urged regulators to keep their promise to release a report by the end of the year that details an independent review of millions of borrowers who faced foreclosure. In a letter to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Maxine Waters and Rep. Elijah Cummings said a… Read more »

A trio of top Democrats are urging federal regulators to release details about their decision to end a foreclosure review process in favor of a nearly $10 billion settlement. Reps. Maxine Waters(Calif.) and Elijah Cummings (Md.) along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) sent a letter on Monday that "in the absence of a long-promised public report" about the Independent Foreclosure… Read more »

Calls for principal reduction, more equal access to market After several critical years in the wake of the housing meltdown, the market recovery is continue to take shape. However, the recovery could be much stronger if housing reform sees immediate action, specifically the pursuit of more widespread principal reduction, which would provide the best return for taxpayers, argues Rep.… Read more »

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is not one to shy from a fight. And when it comes to supporting minority rights to affordable housing and responsible lending, Waters can get downright vicious.  Take the CFPB’s extensive regulatory changes coming in January. It’s going to be tough enough to get rolling on the new marching orders. But to Waters, it’s just the start. “The… Read more »

The nomination of Rep. Mel Watt to be the regulator for housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed a key procedural vote Thursday because of strong Republican opposition.. President Obama nominated Watt, a veteran Democrat from North Carolina, in May to be director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. But attempts to bring his nomination to a vote by the full Senate… Read more »

WASHINGTON — With the leading House Republican plan to overhaul the mortgage finance market stuck in limbo, several Democrats have begun work on alternative proposals that could further divide support for the GOP bill. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced his legislation to unwind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and remove a government backstop… Read more »

WASHINGTON — Senior House Democrats introduced legislation Thursday designed to give regulators additional authority to go after bank executives at institutions involved in money laundering scandals. The two bills, by Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., come on the heels of HSBC's landmark $1.9 billion… Read more »

A House Democrat plans to introduce a bill Wednesday that would toughen anti-money laundering laws by placing an emphasis on penalties for executives and giving a Treasury Department bureau greater enforcement powers. The “Holding Individuals Accountable and Deterring Money Laundering Act” highlights some lawmakers’ dissatisfaction with recent money-laundering penalties and provides a… Read more »