Melvin Watt: “But at the same time, I am a great respecter of this division of powers that we have here.”

Congress has given us this mandate: Do lending, back loans that are safe and sound, and provide liquidity in the market.

I am not above the law. I don't believe that I am above the law.

The real problem was that I think because there was this competition to make money for the private sector, there developed a race to the bottom.

unequivocally . . . it is the role of Congress, not FHFA, to make the decisions that chart the path out of conservatorship and to the future housing finance system.