Melvin Watt

I respect the right of local authorities. Some people think I am too States' rights oriented, given my background.

We want some tough, hard-nosed decisions that have nothing to do with politics.

What is important, though, is that we should definitely not be making any loans or guaranteeing any loans that cannot be repaid.

You can put as many zeroes behind a trillion dollars as you want. The same principles that apply in spending $10 a week...

I will draw the line on any actions that are contrary to the interests of the taxpayers of the United States.

Most of them do not really give much of an [expletive deleted] about poor people and whether they have housing or not, and it seems to me that an over-emphasis in that direction can only make matters worse.

If somebody is going to try to put States' rights or individual eminent domain authority above the taxpayers of the United States, that is where I would certainly draw the line.

I plan to insist that we continue to support a deep and liquid secondary mortgage market while taking steps to encourage private capital.

I have always believed that you cannot make a loan to somebody who cannot afford to repay it.

putting me out of a job would mean that we have gotten through this transition and built a sustainable future for housing finance.

we either have to write a law that covers every eccentricity, every nuance, or we have to write a general principle.

As a practicing attorney for 22 years before coming to Congress, I have a healthy respect for our judicial system, a system which is envied around the world.

American innovation cannot be held hostage to frivolous litigation from weak or over-broad patents.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I thank all of the witnesses. It has been an exceptionally good hearing, very balanced presentation. I think that is the kind of hearing we need on this, to really try to get to the brunt of it.

I want to join with my colleagues in expressing thanks and giving praise to our outgoing chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He's not leaving Congress, he's just leaving the chairmanship of the Congressional Black Caucus. I don't…

I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting the bill and working with us next year to address the things that are not in the bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

I yield such time as she may consume to a valued member of our Intellectual Property Subcommittee and a valued member of the Judiciary Committee, the gentlelady from California (Ms. Lofgren).

And with having been granted that unanimous consent, I think I can submit substantially all of my statement into the Record. However, I did want to acknowledge the outstanding stewardship of Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual…

Let me get this straight. We have passed a bill on a bipartisan basis that directs that rules be written, and then we want, when the rules are written, to have it come back to Congress so that we can approve those rules. Tell me, first of…

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 North Carolina will be postponed. {time} 1910 Amendment No. 7 Offered by Mr. Loebsack The…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 3, line 18, strike ``or (d)'' and insert the following: ``(d), or (e)''. Page 5, insert after line 7…

I want to approach it from the minority perspective, because the statistics indicate that the number of ethnic minority dealers was disproportionate in the number who were terminated.

If you think we are in trouble now, if you get the politics and the Congress involved in transactions with foreign governments and the decisions about how we get ourselves out of this unemployment situation, if we have some answers about…

I thank the gentleman. Let me say, first, that this bill is not about sunshine and it's not about transparency. It is about dissatisfaction that some individuals have with the mandate that Congress has given to the Federal Reserve. The…

I just want to be clear that Mr. Frank and I both voted against the bill that you're talking about, so don't try to make it sound like it's Mr. Frank's and my bill. We voted against the bill. This is Ron Paul's bill. We thought it was a…