[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 25, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1347]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CREDIT UNION, BANK, AND THRIFT REGULATORY RELIEF ACT OF 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. MAXINE WATERS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 24, 2008

  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6312, The 
Credit Union, Bank, and Thrift Regulatory Relief Act of 2008. I am 
particularly pleased to speak in favor of this legislation because I 
have always been a strong supporter of credit unions. These 
institutions have been effective in pursuit of their mission to serve 
people of modest means and underserved communities, both of which 
characterize much of my district. Regulatory improvement in this 
industry is long overdue and I want to thank Mr. Kanjorski and Mr. 
Moore for their work on this bill.
  Credit union regulatory relief is especially urgent in light of the 
nation's current financial crisis. We are either at the brink of a 
recession--or already in one--largely because of the crisis in the 
subprime mortgage market that has led to a wave of foreclosures unlike 
any since the Great Depression. In significant part, this crisis 
resulted from certain financial institutions, many of them largely 
unregulated, peddling dangerous mortgage loan products to borrowers who 
did not fully understand the risk they were taking on. Meanwhile, the 
lenders themselves whisked their own risk to the four corners of the 
earth via securitization and the secondary market. Much of the 
Financial Services Committee's work in the past year has involved 
working to enact legislation that prevents this from ever happening 
again.
  Notably, credit unions did not help to create this mess. Indeed, 
analysis of 2006 home mortgage disclosure data reveals that credit 
unions were far less likely than other lenders to make subprime loans 
to low and moderate income households, especially minorities.
  So credit unions were not part of the problem. But they can and must 
be part of the solution. If there is any lesson to be learned from this 
crisis, it is that low or moderate income households and residents of 
underserved communities don't just need access to any credit, but 
rather access to sound and appropriate financial products. Credit 
unions stand ready to provide such products to more people and more 
communities, but need Congressional action to do so. Specifically, H.R. 
6312 would allow credit unions to extend their services to areas with 
high unemployment rates and below median incomes that are generally 
underserved by other depository institutions.
  Critically, it would also allow some people who don't belong to a 
local credit union nonetheless to go to that credit union for short 
term loans, as an alternative to the exorbitant rates charged by payday 
lenders. This is progress in achieving the outcome policymakers must 
pursue in the financial services sector, namely, connecting households 
of modest means with the soundest financial products and institutions 
available to them.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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