Mike Capuano

I support this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schock). The amendment was agreed to. Amendment No. 3 Offered by Ms. Speier The…

This en bloc amendment is perfectly fine with us, and I urge its adoption. I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Now, I understand that people may see things differently and I respect people that would differ, but I cannot believe that anyone can honestly read the Constitution on this matter in an unclear way. Congress has the authority to declare…

I demand a recorded vote. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts will be postponed. Amendment No. 18 Offered by Mr. Gingrey of Georgia The…

I am very concerned about what this bill would do by eliminating the mission of serving this market.

It is not necessarily the lack of regulation, of a regulation that is there; it is the lack of enforcement of the regulation.

This fact undermines the thesis that it was something about U.S. capital markets or the U.S. housing market in particular that was the primary cause of the bubble. It undermines that thesis.

I was struck that the Republicans, oddly to me, criticized President Obama's Administration for not giving them more specific advice about how to fix Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I was not aware that they were in the habit of waiting for…

I have learned how to do that, because last year the Republicans offered what they said was the solution to the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac problem in the conference. We did not accept it. And they said, this is a big mistake.

No, this wasn't hurried because of Chris Dodd; this was hurried because a whole range of people, beginning with Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke, the Bush appointees who initiated our efforts here, said you really need to get this done…

I appreciate the points you raised. I agree with pretty much everything you have said.

Make the fight. If you lose, fine. But what if you are wrong and you win, and you get a judge who says, 'You know something? This is a little unusual.'

This is taxpayer dollars. This is not Enron. This is not WorldCom. We are not shareholders. We are taxpayers.

I get that. Maybe they could find a way to allow some sort of lien or some sort of surety or some other such activity again that may never be paid.

So you don't think it is possible to split it out?

It certainly strikes me that, in theory, if these individuals acted badly, the company is a victim as much as anybody else.

But these case histories are not based on taxpayer dollars doing this. These case histories are on shareholders' dollars doing it, not taxpayer dollars.

For me, $160 million worth of legal fees, it certainly sounds unreasonable.

I would respectfully suggest that, going forward, we make a determination as to where we are going to draw the line.

So much damage was caused by allowing an industry to take advantage of our families, and I state, 'take advantage of our families' who only wanted to have the American dream, and that is to own a home.

This hearing is important to the American taxpayers. It is important for us to understand the complexity of the problem caused by the fall of the housing market.

All the hand-wringing and bed-wetting is going on without remembering how the House stepped up on this. What did we get from the White House? We got a one-finger salute.

I think you are doing a great job. I think you have the right priorities, and you are the right man for this job, and I appreciate what you have done.

So with a $1 billion left you will clearly not be able to do--or less--you clearly will not be able to do what you are doing right this very minute, is that fair?

Let me be clear: To me, this may not be the most important issue to most of my constituents. I know that. I realize that. Jobs are more important. The economy is more important. But America has always been and, I think, always should be…