Jeff Merkley

I'm running out of time, so I'll just note that I want to explore this more...

It just strikes me as fascinating that a for-profit company is running into a manufacturing problem and FDA is able to help them resolve that problem.

One thing we tried to do was leave in--and I will just close with this closing comment because my time is up--but to require the entrepreneur who is providing the information to be accountable for material misstatements or omissions so…

I have introduced a bill in partnership with Senator Bennet and Senator Landrieu to try to strike a balance.

Will the details on those analyses be conveyed to homeowners so they can evaluate whether they should spend the time pursuing this process?

I think it would send a clear message of independence.

Is getting thrown out of your home through an illegal process direct financial injury in terms of the way you have been instructed to approach this issue?

If the law requires a party that initiates a foreclosure to have ownership of the mortgage and that that was not followed, that is a pretty significant legal breach.

I think there is both a substantive concern about conflicts of interest. There is also a perception issue related to these questions.

So if a family is put out of their home illegally, maybe their rent that they are paying is no more than their mortgage payment was, is that a basis you would say they suffered no financial harm?

I do not think that quite answered the question.

The failure to stop the foreclosure process while saying that there may be a remedy means that potentially you are saying, yes, we may find after 3 months that you have been unfairly--had your home taken away, but too bad.

I think to even call it independent is, in that situation, a complete betrayal of your trust with the homeowner.

Why not alert homeowners to the full range? They are not sophisticated analysts of detailed mortgage issues. Why only list 6 of the 20?

Are you planning to send a second letter to homeowners to... clarify the way that the independent--so-called independent process has been structured?

If you personally were involved in an issue with a firm, if you were involved in a contest over how a transaction went down and the other side chose the adjudicator, paid the adjudicator, designed the process, designed the form, would you…

The last thing homeowners need after so many challenges--I mean, I can tell you that the one person of a major bank has said the biggest challenge they faced, or the biggest mistake they made was in hiring kind of call room capable folks…

Do you think that that might be important to whether a homeowner feels like it truly is an independent process?

So do you feel like there is some standard that eliminates the conflict of interest between these companies?

Well, please, that is so insincere, that the banks would say, yes, the homeowners get to pick the independent reviewer.

Why did you all want to keep the independent reviewers secret?

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order. There being no objection, the Senate, at 6:03 p.m., adjourned until Thursday, December 8, 2011, at 9:30 a.m. 

The cloture vote on the Cordray nomination will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Additionally, cloture was filed on the motion to proceed to S. 1944, the Middle Class Tax Cut Act of 2011. Unless an agreement is reached, that vote will be…

But we may lose this vote here in a few moments, because folks on behalf of those who want to make money through predatory practices are defeating those who are fighting for fairness for American families.

The reason those predatory practices were not ended is they were at the Federal Reserve