Mortgage Reform & Anti-Predatory Lending Act
Floor Speech
Mortgage Reform & Anti-Predatory Lending Act
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Mrs. CAPITO. I would like to thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
I would like to talk about the bill in general, Mr. Chairman. This legislation was just introduced on March 23, and less than a month later, which included our 2-week District Work Period, we had one hearing and then it was followed by a 2-week markup, and we're hearing now where things are still needing to be clarified, which I think goes to my first point. I think it's important for my colleagues to realize that this legislation has the potential to forever change the mortgage market, and I have concerns that, while changes are indeed needed, maybe we may be moving too briskly on broad legislation that could have some serious unintended consequences.
The credit risk-retention provision, the skin-in-the-game provision, while it's supported in concept by most, it's still being worked out. There is no consensus on whom the scope of this provision would encompass or what the effect would be on the liquidity in the market. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, a record number of borrowers are delinquent, the housing market is still very fragile, and what is needed is a sense of certainty that we can accept a floor in the market. We don't need constant tinkering and changing so that that stability is not there.
A glaring omission in this legislation, also, is it does nothing to address the future of the GSEs Fannie and Freddie. These two entities provide the lion's share of liquidity in the mortgage market, and any mortgage reform legislation should include provisions defining the future role of GSEs in the market.
I supported this legislation last week in the Financial Services Committee and I will support it again today, but I do have real concerns about some of the provisions that are still left in limbo. I don't believe, and I don't think anybody does, we should be cutting off dollars to homebuyers and homeowners while trying to prevent a problem from happening again.
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