Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act would prohibit the Federal Government from entering into or enforcing any settlement agreement requiring donations to remediate harms that are not ``directly and proximately'' caused by a wrongdoer's unlawful conduct. I, regretfully, oppose this measure for several reasons. To begin with, the bill would prohibit these types of settlement agreements even though they have been successfully used to remedy various harms, particularly those caused by reckless corporate actors. For example, these settlement agreements helped facilitate an effective and comprehensive response to the predatory and fraudulent mortgage lending activities of financial institutions that nearly caused the economic collapse of our Nation, and that led to the Great Recession. In fact, settlement agreements with two of these culpable financial institutions, Bank of America and Citigroup, required a donation of less than 1 percent of the overall settlement amount to fund foreclosure prevention and remediation programs to help harmed consumers. Now, contrary to the majority's claim, the Justice Department did not use any of these settlement agreements to fund active groups.…”