John Garamendi: “And part of that Consumer Protection Agency focuses directly on the mortgage market out there and deals with those…”

“And part of that Consumer Protection Agency focuses directly on the mortgage market out there and deals with those mortgage companies that were selling subprime mortgage opportunities to people that had really no ability to pay it back. So those people may have invested whatever money they had in a home, and when it came time for the resetting of the interest rates, they couldn't afford it. They lost their investment. They lost their home. They may have also lost their job because of the collapse of the mortgage industry and the housing industry, and so 8 million Americans were out of work. The combination wiped out 401(k)s. The word around was they no longer were 401(k)s, they had become 201(k)s. So we really need to have that consumer protection agency in place to monitor Wall Street, to monitor the mortgage lending markets out there, to make sure those products are appropriate for individuals. Without it, we are going to go right back into the same kind of problem that nearly took down this country's economy and the world economy.”