Bob Menendez

Canceling the Keystone XL pipeline does not mean that the oil from Canadian oil sands deposits will go undeveloped, sparing the world some modest increment of carbon emissions.

This hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will come to order.

The most important thing at this point is not to assign blame, but rather to chart a path forward that fixes the problems.

Well, I guess it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you are going to now perform the same functions that you gave a contracting company $50-some-odd million to do and you are going to do it in-house, that you are going…

It does not absolve the State of oversight responsibility since the entity receiving the money from the Federal Government is the State of New Jersey, not HGI.

Have you had any sit-downs with any of the State officials?

Is the State aware of your overarching list of recommendations? And have they indicated any willingness to address those concerns?

Have you shared your initial findings with HUD for their review?

It is pretty amazing to me.

Even if there was no intent to discriminate, a disparate impact could still be cause for concern.

I also understand while you controlled the data for geography, your analysis does not necessarily control for every factor that would explain some other disparity, such as an individual's level of damage suffered by each applicant.

Can you talk a little bit about your efforts to gather information on this effort about how we minimize the gap in appeal rates between homeowners?

Do you believe that the appeal process was clear and easy for people to understand?

Well, that will be a challenge, although maybe one we will consider undertaking, but we are going to have to get it right for the money that exists before we can make the case for the next tranche of money beyond the $1.4 billion.

Should have the file reviewed by the State retrospectively as it relates to what they had filed in making a determination under the guidelines that obviously produced an 80-percent default rate.

It would seem to me that those who were foreclosed as a result of lack of knowledge from an appeal should be allowed to appeal at this point or have their files reviewed prospectively.

That is one universe which is clearly a problem.

I see that as we were conducting this hearing, the State of New Jersey announced some change, which from my perspective is welcome but nowhere near resolution of the core issue I was raising with the Secretary about environmental and…

The time to act is now. As I noted before, the next $1.4 billion for many people may be the last chance.

80 percent of people who appealed their denials won.

I want to first thank you and the Members of the Committee and the rest of the Senate and the House of Representatives for appropriating financial resources to both Belmar and the rest of the Jersey Shore since Sandy ravaged our…

I do not control when votes take place here in the Senate--at least not yet.

I hope that there will be a review of that as well. We need to make this program efficient, transparent, fair, and equitable for everyone.

And can I have your commitment to keep the Committee informed as to the results of that?

Unfortunately, it is not just the Web site that has prevented people with limited English proficiency from accessing recovery programs.