House Proceeding 04-29-09 on Apr 29th, 2009 :: 3:10:35 to 3:22:05
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3:10:21 to 3:10:41( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: i came in 2005. i asked to serve on the financial services committee. i had no idea at that time that it would be the busiest committee in 2009 as we have worked to address the economic downturn, the likes of which, we certainly haven't seen in my lifetime. but to reflect back on that

3:10:35 to 3:22:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Melissa L. Bean

3:10:42 to 3:11:02( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: history, i was so plsed to discover, because we talk a lot about partisanship in the media and there's a feeling that there's never any working together in washington is i came to the committee in 2005 under the chairmanship under republic oxley and ranking

3:11:03 to 3:11:23( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: member barney frank and they demonstrated what working together really means. they put partisanship aside, both leaders of both parties recognized hard work and good ideas. didn't matter which side of the i'll -- i'll it came from. they worked hard to find common ground.

3:11:24 to 3:11:45( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: i was happy to be there and learn a lot from chairman oxley and respect him as i have come to see that chairman frank, as he took the gavel in 2007, his continued -- continuing in that tradition. it's possible to see what's possible in committees when ideas prevail over ideology.

3:11:46 to 3:12:06( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: as i mentioned, it has been a busy committee and we haven't slowed down and we have a chairman that is very deliberative and consensus driven. when chairman frank took the gavel in 2007, he was faced with some serious challenges. the subprime mortgage crisis, the issue of bringing proper oversight to fannie mae and

3:12:07 to 3:12:28( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: freddie mac. and he really stepped up to those challenges. in fact, prior to that, we already had been working -- prior to the recent problems with the mortgage crisis, in 2007, we immediately passed legislation to address the subprime crisis. and in fact, chairman frank made sure that we passed robust oversight for fannie mae and

3:12:29 to 3:12:51( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: freddie mac. that did pass and become law. unfortunately, the mortgage reform went to the senate, where it did not move and get to the signature of the president. and we are now just this week in committee, today, we were marking up another mortgage reform bill that we will be bringing forward and more hopeful that the sthat and president will act on that and

3:12:52 to 3:13:14( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: will become law so we can eliminate the lending practices of the past that introduced too much risk into the system and set up people to fail. it not home ownership if you're only there for a little while and can't make payments. we have to move beyond the lack of due diligence and proper underwriting standards that

3:13:15 to 3:13:35( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: allowed no doc loans, drive-by appraiseals, a.a.a.-rated securities that contributed to an economic downturn of not just systemic proportions domestically but international ramifications. and we are continuing to work hard on those issues. we worked to address foreclosure avoidance and the credit crisis

3:13:36 to 3:13:57( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: and this has been led by a chairman who continues to respect good ideas, regardless of which party they come from. i find it interesting that many have chosen to demonize particular individuals in the congress or suggest that one member, particularly when he served in the minority, somehow

3:13:58 to 3:14:18( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: could bring the downfall of fannie or freddie our system in general when, in fact, well for over a decade, many on both sides of the aisle talked about the need for proper oversight to these large institutions, fannie and freddie and it wasn't until chairman frank had the gavel that we moved from rhetoric to

3:14:19 to 3:14:40( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: resolution and passed that resolution in the house so we could bring that oversight. unfortunately, by the time it did pass, it was too late to preclude government takeover of these institutions. leme move on to a couple of other areas we have been working on in committee. and again where there has been effort to work together.

3:14:41 to 3:15:03( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: let's talk about the tarp funding. one of the things that i was impressed with was when past president bush came and secretary paulson at the time came to congress requesting funds to pour greater stablization of our financial institutions, chairman frank

3:15:04 to 3:15:24( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: didn't hesitate to bring sincere bipartisan effort to the equation. he didn't accept the request, as it was, which was essentially a blank check. he demanded greater accountability and more specific definition of the purpose of those funds and has continued to fight to improve that ever since, but what he

3:15:25 to 3:15:45( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: didn't lay blame or step back and say that's another party's problem. he brought constructive solutions forward. and that's what we all need to do in this body if we're to address the challenges we continue to face. we have had countless hearings, not only in the past congress,

3:15:46 to 3:16:07( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: but in this congress, to address issues about agency abilities and lack of abilities if you look at the madoff scandal and the s.e.c.'s inability to address that long before they finally did and when it was too late. we have had hearings about the a.i.g. fallout and does that

3:16:08 to 3:16:28( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: bring about the need for a greater federal role in insurance regulation. we have had hearings about systemic risk and how we can bring a greater authority, to have an umbrella oversight beyond the functional regulators so we can determine where there might be risks in the system that in a future unturn could do

3:16:29 to 3:16:52( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: what happened recently affecting all of our businesses, our families' savings for retirement and focollege, reducing the values of our homes and we need to avoid that type of systemic fallout where we have future downturns, where we are likely to havin normal cycles. we talked about providing resolution authority so that as

3:16:53 to 3:17:13( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: the fdic has been able to wind down failing banks in a way that has not been disruptive to businesses and families who are depositors of those banks, but to re-organize those institutions in a way that doesn't bring further panic to the system. we don't have and our federal government doesn't have clear

3:17:14 to 3:17:36( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: authority relative to someone like an a.i.g. or other institutions that don't fall under fdic's ability to do that. so as we continue through these hearings and continue our hard work, i think it's important that we focus on solutions and not play the blame game.

3:17:37 to 3:17:57( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: and this is my fifth year in congress. and i have never come to this floor to aattack an individual or a party and i don't intend to do that. but i thought it was important to call it as i see it and lay the record more clearly on those who have cast blame clearly in the wrong direction.

3:17:58 to 3:18:18( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: many economists are telling us this is the worst crisis we have seen since the great depression. we have been forced to make hard choices and we're going to continue to make hard choices and we're going to make some mistakes along the way, but our intent needs to be in a bipartisan basis, we roll up our sleeves and find the best solutions possible.

3:18:19 to 3:18:40( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: i'm glad on the financial services committee, we have a chairman and a ranking member who both step up to bring that kind of leadership and the continued tradition that was here when i came in 2005 under chairman oxley and then ranking member frank. and i'm glad to be on that committee and will continue to

3:18:41 to 3:19:01( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: do my part. i'll m i happen to vice chair a coalition called the pro-growth caucus and we have been focused on pro-growth innovation solutions to some of the challenges that we're facing.

3:19:02 to 3:19:23( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: and i also happen to chair the task force the n.b.c. on financial services regulatory reform. and i also appreciated the chairman's deliberative approach and feedback to some of the suggestions we've made to him for committee consideration relative to regulatory reform. we are focusing on regulatory

3:19:24 to 3:19:44( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: performance. clearly, the s.e.c.'s inability to determine there was a problem that ultimately resulted in the madoff ponzi scheme suggests we don't need more regulation, but better regation and a greater degree of best practices in the agencies who should be accountable for it.

3:19:45 to 3:20:07( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: we are working on addressing issues of market stability and transparency, making sure that we bring to the table some countercyclical measures to offset the nature of our system as it occurs currently, which has contributed to booms and

3:20:08 to 3:20:28( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: busts and booms and busts and we need to be more prescriptive to work with our regulators to ensure that they consider and have the flexibility to weigh in on things relative to capital requirements. so as we see a bubble in formation, maybe increasing some of those requirements so as to encourage deleveraging or

3:20:29 to 3:20:50( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: clearly where we were overlerged. if we are in a downfall, as we experienced recently, that's probably the time the regulators should have the ability to consider easing up on those capital requirements so it doesn't require forced selloff of other equities as it did when we had the mortgage crisis,

3:20:51 to 3:21:14( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: which created a systemic-wide problem. . we have to have consumer protections, so we look at the credit detault swap market, roughly a $62 trillion unregulated market that left many counterparties out there and ultimately required federal

3:21:15 to 3:21:35( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: intervention to assist i.g. in their downturn -- a.i.g. in their downturn. we d't have all the answers but we're working together on a bipartisan basis to find the solutions and had a late-night dinner this week. those are the kinds of things we're going to have to continue to do to bring real solutions to the table and help create an environment so that our

3:21:36 to 3:21:57( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: businesses and our families are on a -- on a solid foundation that supports sustained growth as we turn our economy around. thank you and i yield back.

3:21:58 to 3:22:05( Edit History Discussion )

Melissa L. Bean: mr. capuano: i want to take a few seconds and show this chart. it shows subprime 1996 to 2005.