Richard Shelby

This means that taxpayers will be subsidizing the purchase of expensive homes by wealthy buyers.

Are our community banks not inextricably linked to a lot of the small businesses and job growth across this country----

Today, we have a far more concentrated and less competitive banking system.

That is not good news.

If confirmed, she will face difficult tasks.

I look forward to hearing how his private and public sector experience will help guide his management of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Well, we wish you well in your job.

It is absolutely essential for the Agency to be independent and to act independently.

FHFA was created to be an agency independent of executive branch influence, whoever the party was in power.

In your view, should the Federal Housing Finance Agency take stronger action to discipline the GSEs for their failure to manage operational risk?

Although the Federal Housing Finance Agency has the authority to discipline the GSEs for such failures, including removing personnel, FHFA so far has not chosen to exercise this authority.

Today, as the Chairman has mentioned, the Committee will hear the testimony of the Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Did you consult with the Treasury Department while you were establishing the current compensation arrangement?

If Congress had acted, taxpayers would not be subsidizing the pay of Fannie and Freddie executives.

The Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement--I alluded to that earlier--established the rules by which the taxpayer funds the bailout of Fannie and Freddie.

If Congress had acted, Fannie and Freddie could have been prevented from crowding out the private sector by backing 71 percent of mortgage originations.

It is my understanding, although it has not yet passed Congress, that the Conference Report for the appropriations bill is probably going to contain or will contain a compromise on conforming loan limits that would raise the loan limit…

How does the compensation arrangement of Fannie and Freddie compare with that of AIG and other TARP recipients?

If Congress had acted, a comprehensive solution could have been devised to deal with foreclosures and struggling homeowners.

Did Secretary Geithner or any of his representatives at Treasury express disapproval of the final structure of the executive compensation arrangement that you had proposed?

If at any point during the last 3 years the administration and the majority party had done more than talk about the need for reform, we might be looking at a very different picture in the housing market.

Economic development is a challenging endeavor even in prosperous times.

The average income of an Indian living on a reservation in 2009 was $8,000 compared with $14,000 for Indians living off reservations.

Unemployment remains high and access to capital for business formation is virtually nonexistent.

I believe that education may be the single most important weapon in that particular fight.