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Chairwoman Waters Returns to House Rules Committee to Testify on Housing Provisions of the Build Back Better Act
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, delivered the testimony at a House Committee on Rules meeting on the housing provisions of the H.R. 5376, the Build Better Act. The following is an excerpt of her testimony:
Thank you very much, Mr. Perlmutter. And I would like to commend you for the time and effort that you’re putting forth here in the Rules Committee, and the long hours that you’re engaged with. Appreciating that, I will try to make my presentation as brief as possible.
Let me start with a little bit of a backdrop about why the efforts that I put forth on housing are so important. There are more than 580,000 individuals who are homeless; more than 20 million people paying more than they can afford on rent; a national shortage of seven million homes that are affordable and available to low-income people. There’s a shortage of seven million. One out of four people who are eligible for a housing voucher cannot receive one. Black homeownership is at the lowest level since the Fair Housing Act made housing discrimination illegal in 1968. This bill creates, preserves, or retrofits over one million homes; 260,000 households will receive a voucher under this bill. And, so, I thank you, and the Members of this Committee, for my ability to be here this evening to make this presentation…
Watch Chairwoman Waters’ full House Rules Committee testimony HERE.
Waters Delivers Floor Speech Urging Members to Pass the Build Back Better Act
Friday evening, Chairwoman Waters delivered a floor speech before the vote concerning the rule governing debate for H.R. 5367, the Build Back Better Act. Watch the full clip of Chairwoman Waters floor speech HERE.
Tweets of the Week
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Member Spotlight
| Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) |
Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) serves as Chair of the Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance, and as a Member of the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Weekend Reads
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Committee Hearings
The Financial Services Committee convened three hearings this week:
- The Task Force on Financial Technology convened a hearing entitled, “Buy Now, Pay Later? Investigating Risks and Benefits of BNPL and Other Emerging Fintech Cash Flow Products,” examining how lack of a living wage and access to credit, as well as an inability to access wages once earned, have given rise to a proliferation of fintech products designed to help consumers cover expenses and make ends meet.
- The Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions convened a hearing entitled, “Cyber Threats, Consumer Data, and the Financial System,” taking a look at how we can better protect consumers from cybersecurity threats in our financial system.
- The Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy convened a hearing entitled, “From Timber to Tungsten: How the Exploitation of Natural Resources Funds Rogue Organizations and Regimes.” As natural resource extraction has become the fastest growing transnational crime, this hearing explored how to help identify national security threats, fight financial crime and corruption, and promote good governance.
Upcoming Hearing Dates
- November 9 at 12:00 PM ET: The Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion will convene for a virtual hearing entitled, “There's No Pride in Prejudice: Eliminating Barriers to Full Economic Inclusion for the LGBTQ+ Community.”
- November 16 at 10:00 AM ET: The full Committee will convene for a hybrid markup
All hearings are livestreamed on https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/live/.
For virtual hearings, all Members and witnesses participate remotely with no in-person participation in the hearing room. Hybrid hearings will take place in 2128 Rayburn House Office Building with a virtual option for all Members and witnesses to participate remotely.
Committee activities are finalized once an official notice is issued by the House Financial Services Committee.
Visit https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/calendar/ for the most up-to-date Committee schedule.
Chairwoman’s Corner
Waters Opening Statement at Hearing on Fighting Cybersecurity Threats in the Financial System
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following statement at a Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions hearing entitled, “Cyber Threats, Consumer Data, and the Financial System.”
Thank you very much, Chair Perlmutter, for holding this important hearing on cybersecurity.
Financial institutions have long been a top target for cybercriminals. Several years ago, Equifax experienced one of the largest cyberattacks, exposing the sensitive and personal identifiable information of nearly 150 million Americans. Government agencies and institutions are observing an alarming increase in the volume and sophistication of cyberattacks. According to one report, banks and credit unions experienced a 1,318 percent increase in ransomware attacks during the first part of this year.
So, I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on ways we can strengthen cybersecurity in the financial sector, including understanding how small institutions, like minority depository institutions, utilize third-party vendors to provide core processing and software, and what vulnerabilities arising from those partnerships we need to address.
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