Political Quotes

“I rise to speak behind the distinguished Senator from Georgia. He has more experience in the housing market than any Senator in the Senate and always speaks with eloquence and balance. I would like to second what he said. I spent a lot of time with the nominee, Carol Galante. She is technically very proficient. Over the past 2 weeks she has put in place reforms that are very strong. It is just a start. I know a lot more needs to happen at FHA, but she has put in place some very significant reforms. I know we have been losing billions of dollars at FHA--and I think seniors have been taking advantage of it--on something called a full- draw fixed-rate reverse mortgage. The advertisements for that have been on TV. The FHA has been losing its shirt over that program. She ended that program--or will end it by the end of January--on her own, along with doing some other things relative to debt-to-income. That is one example of why I think she is technically very proficient. I know there are Members of this body today who may work against her because they are very dissatisfied with what has been happening at FHA. Candidly, much of that is due to us. We need to pass some legislation to deal with FHA, and we have been resistant to do that. I know Johnny Isakson, David Vitter, and others in our body have been pushing for us to address that. I know the Presiding Officer serves on the Banking Committee with me, and we know reforms need to take place.…”