Spencer Bachus

We have witnessed unprecedented government involvement in the financial markets.

Thank you for appearing before the committee today, for your professionalism, and your service to our country.

Governor Duke, as I think someone else said, the Fed has had the right to regulate unfair and deceptive loans since, I guess, 1994. Is that correct?

I thank the chairman. I thank you for convening this hearing on consumer protection and the role of the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve and other bank regulators have cautioned that the rule changes threaten the viability of the Federal Government's economic recovery plan.

Republicans believe that the Fed's core mission--and I stress this--is to conduct monetary policy and that mission will be seriously undermined if its supervisory responsibilities are dramatically expanded.

I think we all agree that as we go forward, we do need a more transparent institution with a more clearly defined role.

Whether regulatory power and sweeping new powers really should be centralized and given to the Federal Reserve at a time when our country is facing unprecedented fiscal, economic, and monetary policy challenges, we believe, is very…

It is absolutely impossible to make them an independent agency and allow them to function as they are and yet give them the opportunity to guarantee or loan billions of dollars without substantially increasing their accountability and…

We particularly object to what we see is allowing the Fed to become a permanent bailout agency.

I want to express to you, Devin Nunes, with the diversion of 500,000 what is it, a tremendous amount of water.

This is the perfect storm.

There is a double standard in which top executives are rewarded for failure at the same time that working families are forced to sacrifice.

Whether we tag this on Bush, sort of pin the tail on the donkey, or whether we pin it on the elephant, it is now all of our problems.

We must encourage a return to market discipline.

The Republican regulatory reform proposal calls for a return to market discipline and an end to bailouts, government intrusions into business, and the government picking winners and losers.

What we need instead is a strategy to get us out of what we have witnessed in the past 6 months, and that is government command and control of businesses.

What lessons has the financial services industry learned from the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy and from the near collapse of AIG, any of you?

I guess if the devil wanted to run for Congress, we could not prevent that either.

Thank you, Congressman Sherman.

Any ban on over-the-counter derivatives would likely harm responsible and well-managed U.S. corporations that use derivatives to hedge against business risks.

I personally believe that most derivatives, if they are not too highly customized, should be placed in a clearinghouse situation.

Derivatives do help companies manage risk, and I think they are a very valuable thing.

The Money Service Businesses Act of 2008, H.R. 4049, sponsored by Representative Carolyn Maloney, Chairman Barney Frank, Ranking Member Spencer Bachus, and Representative Judy Biggert, was passed in the House of Representatives.

FISCA supports the introduction of a legislative solution designed to relieve banks of excess regulatory burdens in serving our industry.