[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 8, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H3769]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CRA IS A VITAL SUCCESS STORY

  (Mr. VENTO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, the Community Reinvestment Act is a success. 
Community reinvestment means banks responding to creditworthy 
applicants in their local neighborhoods or towns. Congress must 
maintain this vital policy, not undercut it.
  CRA means safe and sound business for financial institutions. That is 
the key requirement of the 1977 law. CRA's bank success is meeting 
people opportunities that safe and sound business represents.
  In my home district, the University National Bank is serving 
Frogtown, an inner city community in St. Paul. This bank has received 
an outstanding CRA rating for its efforts.
  Amazingly, over 70 percent of the loans in University Bank's 
portfolio qualify for CRA. Of the millions of dollars these loans 
represent, they have had losses totaling only $300. These loans 
happened because every year University Bank officers are required to 
make 500 calls, person-to-person, getting outside the bank.
  In telling the story of improving the urban community, Bill Reiling, 
the owner and president of the University National Bank, states and I 
quote, ``Behind every statistic is a human success story with 
repercussions that echo and multiply a dozen-fold. How do you measure 
the impact of a successful new retail business that brings a new job 
base? How do you measure the positive effect of revitalizing a decaying 
neighborhood?''
  Mr. Speaker, that is CRA. That is how we measure it.

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