Press Releases

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (R-AL), sent a letter Friday to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), regarding the possible expansion of the Farm Credit System as it could affect the financial services market.  The letter is a follow up to a previous… Read more »

Background Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were chartered by Congress to establish and maintain a secondary mortgage market for the U.S. housing finance system.  These Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) have been embroiled in major accounting irregularities in recent years. This has prompted calls for stronger regulatory oversight. H.R. 1427, the Federal Housing Finance… Read more »

Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL-06) today issued the following statement regarding legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) that would remove restrictions on illegal Internet gambling: “It should come as no surprise that I fundamentally oppose any attempts to repeal or weaken The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act which was adopted in the House last year… Read more »

“Homeownership is a source of pride and satisfaction for many families. Purchasing title insurance is a small but important component of the home buying experience. Title insurers play a key role in identifying and addressing any problems prior to closing and protecting consumers against the threat of defects in their homeownership rights.  “The GAO recently… Read more »

“The Court’s decision preserves the ability of the nation’s banks to conduct their business according to clear and certain legal standards. Moving forward, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) should work cooperatively with states and other regulators to promote uniformity in oversight and strengthen consumer protection regulation and enforcement, steps… Read more »

“There has been no specific agreement between Chairman Frank and me regarding the inclusion of any provision in subprime lending reform legislation.  Since March of 2006, I have stated that a workable national standard on assignee liability would be helpful in any subprime reform and that the New Jersey statute provisions on assignee liability have been shown to be effective… Read more »

Biggert bill to increase homeownership and enact comprehensive reforms; Ranking Member Bachus lends support Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, has reintroduced legislation that would increase homeownership rates in the U. S. by modernizing the way in which the 73-year-old Federal Housing… Read more »

“On March 22, the New York Stock Exchange replied to my letter requesting information about the extraordinary events that occurred on February 27.  Their initial response describes some of the remedial actions taken by the NYSE to reduce the likelihood of an event of this significance happening again.” # # # Read more »

“We have a moral imperative to change the standard of public housing, and not only in New Orleans but throughout the country.  We can do better than simply warehousing families in failed large housing projects in crime-ridden communities. Our vision should be vibrant mixed-use communities with good housing, safe streets, and strong schools. “For these reasons, even… Read more »

“As the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, I’m concerned that higher taxes and excessive government spending will slow the economy and make us less competitive internationally. We’re enjoying solid economic growth and low unemployment, and Democrats shouldn’t tamper with that by returning to their failed tax-and-spend ways.” # # # Read more »