Tag Archives: House Financial Services Committee

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services announced late Monday that it would hold a hearing on proposed legislation aimed at reforming the Federal Reserve.

A week after appearing before the Senate Banking Committee, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray traveled back up the hill again to review the bureau's semi-annual report and take questions from the House Financial Services Committee. At the hearing, committee members asked Cordray to address a number of issues surrounding the embattled agency, including accountability concerns and allegations of discrimination.

In prepared remarks for the House Financial Services Committee, newly installed Fed chair Janet Yellen echoed much of what analysts have seen in recent Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statements, with references to a recovering (but still weakened) labor market, a slowing housing market, restrictive fiscal policy, and the usual prediction of a “moderate” expansion in the nation’s economic activity.

Since helping draft the final rule for a qualified mortgage, former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Deputy Director Raj Date has resigned from the agency and opened his own advisory and investment firm aimed specifically at ""those borrowers who do not meet the standards for 'qualified mortgages' as set by the CFPB under rules."" Other senior employees at CFPB have also left to join Date, including Gary Reeder, Chris Haspel, and Mitch Hochburg. This turn of events has raised questions as to the agency's ethics and integrity.

Although policymakers have been busy introducing legislation to diminish the role of the GSEs, analysts at Moody's Investors Service ""believe GSE reform will not take place for at least a few more years."" In June, Senators Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and Mark Warner (D-Virginia) led efforts to introduce legislation to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in five years. Then came PATH from the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee in July.

With criticism for the Obama administration and the shortcomings of the Dodd Frank Act, the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee announced Thursday a new plan to fix housing finance and end the bailout for good. The Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act (PATH) aims to end the federal bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac within five years; increase competition in the housing finance market; and offer consumers more choices when shopping for mortgages.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has been elected chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Hensarling replaces Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Alabama) who headed the committee for the past six years. Hensarling is a conservative supporter of a limited government and a free market economy. He has fought to cut government spending and reduce debt.

The House Financial Services Committee signed off on legislation Wednesday that would repeal bailout funds under the Dodd-Frank Act and more than half the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) budget. Clearing the legislation by a party-line vote, committee members billed it as a way to slash $35 billion from the national deficit.

Members of a House subcommittee voted Thursday not to pass a bill which would have allowed banks to classify modified loans as accruing rather than non-accruing. While most members of the subcommittee agreed that, in many instances, examiners and regulators are posing undue hardship on community banks, the bill was shot down with 8 ayes and 10 nays. Those who opposed said it would allow lenders to manipulate their accounting so that they don't have to hold additional capital against a potentially problematic loan.

The House Financial Services Committee voted in favor of a bill Tuesday that would prohibit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from paying out future bonuses and suspend the 2011 compensation packages that have been approved by their regulator. The bill passed the committee by a vote of 52 to 4 and now moves to the full House for consideration. On the other side of Capitol Hill the very same day, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing in which members grilled the GSEs' regulator about executive pay.