Congress is back from the August District Work Period and in the Financial Services Committee, we're getting straight to work with three hearings in three days. Be sure to check back here on the Bottom Line Blog -- and sign up for our email updates -- for more information throughout the week. Here's what's happening: Leading off the week on Tuesday the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hold a 10 a.m. hearing on reducing waste, fraud and abuse in housing programs as they examine the recommendations made by the HUD inspector general. On Wednesday afternoon the Monetary Policy and Tr... Read More »
House Financial Services Committee chairman talks U.S. housing reform By Kerri Ann Panchuk at Housing Wire Stepping in front of a hometown audience in Dallas, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling captured the local crowd with a simple joke: "Everything is bigger in Texas… except for me," the congressman jested, as he situated his small frame behind a tall podium. This showing of humility and earthiness warmed up the audience, creating an atmosphere for Hensarling that is far removed from the constant infighting in Washington, D.C. And despite the congressman’s willingnes... Read More »
Chairman Hensarling Op-Ed | August 27, 2013 Soon we will mark the fifth anniversary of the financial crisis that wrecked our economy, left millions of Americans unemployed and from which we have yet to recover. From a public policy perspective, the great tragedy of the financial crisis was not that Washington failed to prevent it, but that Washington helped lead us into it. The crisis largely started with a noble intention: Every American should own a home. The result was that well-meaning but misguided policies — principally the “Affordable Housing Goals” of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — eith... Read More »
Editorial | August 16, 2013 It’s not often that Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Dallas and President Barack Obama read from the same script. We’re pleased they are doing just that when it comes to clipping the wings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie and Freddie were created to make sure that the secondary mortgage market is liquid and that Americans can get affordable home loans. For many years, the system worked. But today, Fannie and Freddie have become liabilities to the entire economy. They were major causes of the mortgage meltdown that hurled millions of families into foreclosure,... Read More »
Sen. Phil Gramm and Mike Solon | The Clinton-Era Roots of the Financial Crisis Affordable-housing goals established in the 1990s led to a massive increase in risky, subprime mortgages. Caroline Baum | Krugman Tries to Bury Friedman, Buries Himself It’s good that Milton Friedman is dead, because for the past week Paul Krugman has been trying to kill him off and discredit his monetarist theories. Confounded Interest | Dueling Housing Reform Bills The PATH Act is a potential game changer. CEI | Battered Business Bureau: This Week in Regulation Last week, 83 new final regulations were published in... Read More »
Chairman Hensarling delivered the keynote address today at the Bipartisan Policy Center Housing Commission’s Regional Forum at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Remarks as prepared for delivery: I want to thank the Bipartisan Policy Center for the work it has done on housing finance reform. I especially want to recognize the outstanding leadership and service of people like Secretary Martinez and Secretary Cisneros. Thank you, gentlemen, for continuing to serve our nation by promoting solutions to our nation’s housing challenges. I commend you. Let me also thank the Center for promoting... Read More »
Chairman Hensarling said taxpayers will “never ever, ever again be called upon to bail out Washington for irresponsible housing policies” if the Financial Services Committee’s sustainable housing finance reform bill becomes law. The Chairman’s comments came during a discussion of the bill – the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act (the PATH Act) – on “Speaking of Taxpayers,” the podcast of the National Taxpayers Union. America needs “a sustainable housing finance system, and that’s what we’re trying to create here,” Chairman Hensarling said during the interview. “Number one, it has... Read More »
House Republicans are hard at work reforming America’s housing finance system so it’s sustainable for home owners, respectful of hard-working taxpayers, and built to last. Today – more than five years after the financial crisis and three years since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act – President Obama delivered a speech outlining his principles for housing finance reform. While it’s encouraging that the president is finally engaging in this debate, House Republicans have already taken the lead in moving legislation and consistently called for housing finance reform in order to protect taxpayers... Read More »
Capital Markets & GSEs Subcommittee Chairman Scott Garrett (Facebook | Twitter) delivers this week's Sunday Video Message -- our last before the August District Work Period -- on the PATH Act. Read More »
Wall Street Journal | Just Another Bureaucracy The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau likes to portray itself as a virtuous, upstart and independent agency focused on helping the little guy. In reality it's just another big bureaucracy that rolls out thousands of pages of new rules every year, generating lucrative business opportunities for lawyers and the agency's well-connected alumni. The American | Big Bureaucracy: The CFPB Turns 2 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is everything that both proponents and critics thought it would be, and that’s not a good thing. Washington Times | B... Read More »
