On the recordNovember 17, 2010
I will urge the House to vote ``no'' so as to sustain the President's veto, and I would like to explain why it is important that we are taking this vote. This bill has passed the House under suspension in each of the last three Congresses. It requires courts to recognize duly performed out-of-State notarizations. As it was passing the Senate, reports began to surface regarding improper and possibly fraudulent documentation in foreclosure actions across the country. Improperly performed notarizations were reportedly a major factor in circumventing the legal protections afforded to citizens in foreclosure--notarizations in the absence of the person signing the document or without that person's signature or sometimes even forged notary signatures. So we are taking a fresh look at the notarization bill. There were concerns that it could have the unintended effect of facilitating improprieties in mortgage foreclosures and in other financial transactions as well in that a State could remove important protections from its notarization rules, and then the bill would effectively force other States to go along. The President took the responsible course in refusing to sign this bill into law so that we could give it a careful and fresh examination in light of these concerns.
