Today, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement: “The 2008 financial crisis was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression, inflicting widespread, devastating costs on millions of American families,” said Ranking Member Waters. “All told, more than $13 trillion of household wealth vanished, 11 million individuals were displaced f... Read more

Today, in response to the release of documents showing the transfer of $9.8 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) emergency preparedness funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for its detention centers, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), made the following statement: “The Trump Administration’s transfer of $9.8 million in FEMA emergency preparedness funding to ICE for its detention centers at the beginning of this year’s hurricane season is a travesty. This Preside... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services; Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce; Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton urging the SEC to revise i... Read more

Today, at a full Committee hearing entitled, “A Failure to Act: How a Decade without GSE Reform Has Once Again Put Taxpayers at Risk,” Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following statement: As Prepared for Delivery “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this hearing will focus on the failure to reform our housing finance system. I would point out that Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and there... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, participated in a 2018 Farm Bill Conference Committee meeting to discuss H.R. 2, the 2018 Farm Bill. During the discussion, Ranking Member Waters gave the following statement, urging her colleagues to protect Section 12609, which would extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through January 31, 2019. As Prepared for Delivery I thank the Chair for the time, and I am honored to have b... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, sent a letter to Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling requesting a hearing with Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) decision to begin accepting special purpose national bank charter applications from non-depository financial technology (fintech) companies. “I believe that our financial system can, and must, do more to promote better a... Read more

Today, in response to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s release of an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) seeking comment on modernizing the regulatory framework to implement the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, made the following comment: “Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to combat redlining and discriminatory lending practices by requiring banks to help mee... Read more

Today, in response to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s regulatory report on financial technology (fintech) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) announcement that it will accept applications for national bank charters from fintech companies, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement: “I am deeply concerned by the OCC’s announcement that it will begin accepting applications for national bank c... Read more

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 1182, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Extension Act, by a vote of 366-52. The NFIP provides flood insurance coverage to over 5 million Americans and S. 1182 would reauthorize the program through November 30. Last week, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, led a letter to House and Senate leadership demanding a long-term reauthorization of the NFIP. See her floor statement on... Read more

Today, at a House Financial Services Committee markup of seven bills, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, gave the following opening statement: As Prepared for Delivery Mr. Chairman, let me just say that I was encouraged by our bipartisan agreement on the JOBS Act 3.0 package, and the resulting House passage of the bill with overwhelming support last week. The JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018 is evidence that we can come together to ... Read more

In a letter to House and Senate leadership, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, and 61 Members of Congress called for a commitment to ensuring that homeowners, businesses and renters are able to protect their property in the face of flooding. “Following an historic 2017 hurricane season, which for the first time on record resulted in three Category 4 hurricanes making landfall in the United States, and facing the beginning of the 2018 ... Read more

Today, at the semiannual Humphrey-Hawkins hearing on monetary policy and the state of the economy with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, gave the following opening statement: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome Chairman Powell. Mr. Chairman, I am very concerned about the impact of the reckless economic policies of Donald Trump on hardworking Americans, vulnerable families, and our nation’s economy. ... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following floor statement in support of S.488, the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018, a bipartisan bill that facilitates access to capital for small businesses, increases protections for consumers and investors, fights the scourge of drug and human trafficking, and promotes financial stability. As Prepared for Delivery Mr. Speaker, this bill is an example of true bipartisanship... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, and Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, announced that they have reached an agreement on a package of strong, bipartisan capital-formation legislation to help America’s small businesses and entrepreneurs and to protect investors. The package, known as the “JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018,” is comprised of 32 individual pieces of le... Read more

Today, at a hearing with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin entitled “The Annual Testimony of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the International Financial System,” Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following opening statement: As Prepared for Delivery Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am looking forward to hearing Secretary Mnuchin’s testimony today on the state of the international financial system. I must admit that I... Read more

Today, at a House Committee on Financial Services markup of bipartisan legislation, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following statement: As Prepared for Delivery Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you and Members of the Committee for considering six Democratic bills today that will ensure small businesses have increased access to capital, enhance investor protections and improve investors’ ability to ma... Read more

Yesterday, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, supported eight bipartisan bills that were passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Seven out of the eight bills were passed out of the House Committee on Financial Services. Ranking Member Waters played a leading role in the consideration of each of these overwhelmingly bipartisan bills. In addition to managing the House floor debate, Ranking Member Waters collaborated with the bills’... Read more

Today, in response to the Federal Reserve’s approval of Wells Fargo's capital plan to increase dividend payments by 10 percent and spend up to $24.5 billion on stock buybacks, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement: “I am troubled by the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to approve Wells Fargo’s capital plan to handsomely reward its shareholders, including the megabank’s senior executives, despite engaging in ... Read more

With the 2018 hurricane season underway and Puerto Rican families still struggling in the aftermath of Hurricanes Maria and Irma, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Small Business, Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member on the House Committee on Homeland Security, and Congressman Richard Neal (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Committee o... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following statement at a full committee hearing entitled, “Oversight of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.” This hearing follows Waters’ introduction of legislation to restore fair housing protections eliminated by Secretary Carson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman Mr. Chairman, since Secretary Carson was last before this Committee, he has taken actions and issued proposals that ... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, introduced H.R. 6220, the Restoring Fair Housing Protections Eliminated by HUD Act of 2018, a bill to restore several fair housing protections that Ben Carson, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has eliminated. “The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is supposed to create strong communities; expand access to affordable housing; and enforce fair h... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following floor statement on H.R. 5841, the “Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018,” a bill to reform and provide additional resources for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). As Prepared for Delivery Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 5841, the “Foreign Investment Risk Review Moderniz... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, issued the following statement on the Trump Administration’s failure to issue a final U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulation implementing reforms to the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) policies regarding mortgage insurance for condominiums. “Condominiums are often the most affordable option for first-time and low-to-moderate income homebuyers, which is why my collea... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following statement at a full Committee hearing entitled, “Oversight of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)” with SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and welcome back, Chairman Clayton. Mr. Chairman, given recent developments regarding the Volcker rule, I’d like to offer a reminder that Congress put the Volcker rule into effect in order to stop b... Read more

Today, at a Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee hearing entitled “Illicit Use of Virtual Currency and the Law Enforcement Response,” Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, gave the following statement: As Prepared for Delivery Thank you for scheduling today’s hearing to examine the illicit uses of virtual currency and the law enforcement response. It is alarming how virtual currencies, especially newer ones, are being used to finance ter... Read more