Gregory Meeks: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. I wish what the gentleman from California was saying was right, but as I listen to…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I wish what the gentleman from California was saying was right, but as I listen to these tax cuts that are being talked about, many of these fine programs that help individuals from being thrown out of their house or in need of illegal aid are being cut back. Each time I have seen on the floor the priorities of the party of the gentleman from California, I see that these essential, consumer- oriented not-for-profits are losing their funding. So I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on H.R. 732. This bill would tie the hands of prosecutors that go after financial fraud, including the mortgage schemes that led to the 2008 crisis. Apparently, my Republican colleagues have forgotten that not just Democrats, but all Americans, faced the negative effects of the mortgage fraud that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Americans lost nearly $13 trillion in wealth, the unemployment rate reached a high of 10 percent, and 11 million Americans lost their homes. We all saw business opportunities evaporate in our communities and good-paying jobs wither away. To reverse these wrongs, the Obama administration reached record settlements with firms that engaged in fraud.…”