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Monetary Policy & Trade Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bill Huizenga (Twitter | Facebook) delivers this week's Sunday Video Message on the five year anniversary of the financial crisis. Read More »

Last week, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee questioned the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Inspector General, David Montoya, about reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in the department’s housing programs. All totaled, the latest IG report identified more than $770 million in questionable costs and included recommendations for putting $739.5 million in HUD funds to better use. In the above exchange with Rep. Ann Wagner, however, the IG raised another concern: the egregious length of time it takes HUD to implement audit findings. In one case related to now largely p... Read More »

The House is in session Tuesday through Friday this week and the committee has two scheduled hearings. 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: On Wednesday at 10 a.m. the Capital Markets & GSEs Subcommittee will examine the SEC's money market rule proposal. And on Thursday the full committee holds a legislative hearing on The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002. That hearing also beings at 10 a.m. Both hearings will be held in 2128 Rayburn HOB and will be streamed live on our ... Read More »

Financial Institutions & Consumer Credit Subcommittee Vice Chairman Sean Duffy (Twitter | Facebook) delivers this week's Sunday Video Message on our recent hearing with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray and his own legislation to curb the CFPB's collection of Americans' personal financial data. Read More »

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Deputy Director Steve Antonakes appeared before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit in July to discuss the CFPB’s data collection efforts. Below are just a few of the simple questions Mr. Antonakes was unprepared to answer: How much data is the CFPB collecting and from how many individual consumers? Does the CFPB have agreements with any foreign countries to provide them access to Americans' financial data? How many third-parties have access to the CFPB's data? Is CFPB data searchable by personally identifiable information? Has t... Read More »

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 »