Political Quotes

“Members, I would like to begin by thanking the chair of the Financial Services Committee, my colleague, Mr. Barney Frank, for the leadership that he has provided in bringing us to this point in doing regulatory reform. There were times I thought it would never happen, but because of his brilliance, and because of his leadership, and because of his ability to listen to all of the Members who serve not only on that committee but on the conference committee, we finds ourselves here. But I would like at this point in time to engage my chairman to make sure that I understand one particular word that was used in this conference committee report. So if I may make an inquiry of the gentleman from Massachusetts. I'm trying to understand the meaning of the world "initiated" in paragraph 5 of the conference report. Would "initiated" include any program or initiative that has been announced by Treasury prior to June 25, 2010? And if so, I assume that that means that programs such as the FHA refinance program, which would address the problem of negative equity and which I understand Treasury and the FHA are working on but is not yet publicly available, would be included as would the Hardest Hit Fund program, which is not fully implemented yet. And this would not prevent, for example, within the $50 billion already allocated for HAMP, perhaps adjusting resources between already-initiated programs based on their effectiveness.”