John Sarbanes: “earlier today, I had a press conference with a number of my colleagues, Senators Schumer, Stabenow, Corzine, and…”

“earlier today, I had a press conference with a number of my colleagues, Senators Schumer, Stabenow, Corzine, and Clinton, as well as Mayor DeStefano of New Haven, CT, Mayor McCollum from Richmond, VA, Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and Tess Canja, a member of the Board of AARP, to announce the introduction of the ``Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act of 2002.'' When I took over as Chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs last year, I made it clear that one of my highest priorities would be to use the Committee as a way to shine a bright light on the deceptive and destructive practices of predatory lenders. We then held a series of three hearings, starting in July of 2001 and continuing through January of this year, at which the Committee heard from housing experts, community groups, legal advocates, industry representatives and victims of predatory lending in an effort to determine how best to address this problem. The bill I am introducing this afternoon, along with 14 of my colleagues, represents the result of the recent work of the Committee, as well as efforts from the previous Congress.”