Barney Frank

I will say on this, as on a number of other issues, I will say very sincerely that the gentleman from North Carolina has persuaded me. I think he has clearly identified an issue that needs some further work. And as we go forward…

On the question of this GAO report, I believe it is a reasonable request because I am confident it will come back in support of our bill. And I think it is entirely reasonable to ask them to start, without waiting for passage of the whole…

Yes. I would say, and let me just read the language at the bottom of page 4 of the manager's amendment. Those payments "do not vary based on the terms of the loan or the consumer's decision about whether to finance." So we have tried to…

Attorneys General have been concerned about their ability to prosecute and defend against certain abuses. Thanks to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Watt), the effective date of this bill and all of its provisions will be the date of…

The gentleman has been very tough on this issue, appropriately, and he is right. Some people can read ambiguity into 2 plus 2, and we will deal with that. We are lawyers. We are into redundancy. So in the colloquy I will be having with the…

And I believe it is possible to achieve both objectives, that is, flexibility as to mode but the full substantive protection. And so going forward, as this bill moves on and ultimately we get to conference, I do think we can provide…

We are dealing with legislation today that seeks to prevent a repetition of events that caused one of the most serious financial crises in recent times. We understand today that we are in a worldwide problem economically, with a terrible…

I appreciate it. I don't contest anything he said. But I would say it did seem to me, as I looked at it in a neutral way, that the minority did need some help on dealing with recommits.

We have these laws in 19 States. Nothing like that fantasy has ever come forward. There is a saying that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If it doesn't exist, you can't fix it. They have made this up. We have had the experience for over 25…

Yes. The rule gives the opportunity to the supporters of including transgender inclusion the right to make that decision, not its opponents.

I simply wanted to point out that this proposal that we be allowed to vote on this issue comes from people who are opposed to it in all regards and who understand that the effect of that procedure would be to undermine our ability to make…

I am impressed by the sincerity of the gentleman from Washington's advocacy on people who are transgender, and I hope that as we contemplate this strategy today people will fully examine that. I regret the fact that there do not appear to…

To tell millions of Americans who are gay and lesbian that they are not bad people.

Yes, in decades. I thought the gentleman said 30 years. I would not claim that it was the largest in 30 years, but it certainly has been the largest since the Republicans took power 12 years ago since they tried to kill them all.

I know of one program which helps build family affordable housing. That is what this does. I would yield to the gentleman. Would he name some of the other programs? The question is, what are the 30 programs that help construct, not Fannie…

This is actually a very conciliatory amendment by the gentleman from Mississippi because previously, and I know the gentleman has left the floor, he's been here very diligently, I don't mean anything critical, but the gentleman from…

Virtually every piece of legislation we deal with, because this legislation has two parts, one part which will reduce an existing liability, that is, there is already out there a flood insurance liability. This bill, unanimously agreed to…

The mistakes the gentleman makes are these; the basis on which the flood insurance policies are set is different. The one in this bill, the wind policy, it is a much tougher requirement to be actuarially sound. And CBO, unlike the…

The amendment that you are talking about specifically did not encourage anybody to move. It dealt with people who are already there, having moved there previously, found subsequently they were in a flood area. But the general thrust of the…

In the first place, the flood part environmentalists strongly support because it restricts where people can go and raises the fee. As to the wind part, it's not a subsidy.

To answer the direct question by the gentleman, no, I would not say this is the greatest development bill. But I would also say he says he was puzzled. Not as puzzled as I am in trying to figure out what in the world this had to do with…

I was opposed to the Rules Committee's decision to keep out several Republican amendments. I now regret that even more because if the gentleman had a real amendment to argue for, he wouldn't be making these badly strained irrelevant…

First, Mr. Chairman, I hope the gentleman from Texas will remember this problem about spending when we again debate the proposal to spend hundreds of billions of dollars sending a manned spaceship to Mars, which I have been opposed to, and…

We request that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) initiate a review into a variety of questions regarding the expansion of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to include an optional wind insurance program. The results of…

The law is the law. The amendment would change things. In that sense the gentleman is right: it is silent. It's silent on the wind part, which means it doesn't change it. It explicitly changes the flood part only. And look at lines 18, 19…