[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 169 (Monday, November 16, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H12986-H12990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE NEEDS OF AMERICAN WOMEN AND THE 111TH CONGRESS' RESPONSE TO THOSE 
                                 NEEDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Fudge) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             general leave

  Ms. FUDGE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be 
given 5 legislative days to revise and extend and to enter remarks into 
the Record on this topic.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. FUDGE. Madam Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus is proud to 
offer this special order tonight which will focus on the needs of 
American women and the response of the 111th Congress to those needs.
  The Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is chaired by the Honorable 
Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. I am 
Representative Marcia L. Fudge from the 11th Congressional District of 
Ohio. Madam Speaker, we have been joined by our Chairwoman, the 
gentlelady from California, the Honorable Barbara Lee. I now yield to 
our Chair.
  Ms. LEE of California. Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. And let me 
thank again the Representative from Ohio, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, 
for her leadership and for continuing to voice the concerns of so many 
who may or may not have a voice in this House. And I want to thank you 
for tonight's Special Order on the needs of American women, because in 
this economic downturn, where women still only make about 66 cents to 
the dollar, women again are feeling the brunt of these very, very 
desperate times. And so thank you again for continuing to keep our 
Congressional Black Caucus focused on addressing issues that don't 
always receive the attention that they deserve. Thank you, 
Congresswoman Fudge.
  So let me just talk very briefly about the issue of adolescent health 
and the challenges that many young women and girls face in accessing 
the tools and information they need to really just take care of 
themselves. For too

[[Page H12987]]

long now, our country has led with an abstinence-only policy when it 
comes to sex education for our young people. Unfortunately, for women, 
and women of color, and our young girls, that policy has led to an 
increase in teen pregnancies and in the rate of sexually transmitted 
infections.
  Today, the rate of unintended teen pregnancies in the United States 
is much higher than most other developed nations. Each year, almost 
750,000 women between the ages of 15 and 19 get pregnant. That's 
750,000 women. And the vast majority of these pregnancies occur among 
women of color. The sad reality is that before they turn 20, 53 percent 
of young Latinas and 51 percent of young African American women will 
become pregnant at least once. The comparable rate among non-Hispanic 
white young women is 19 percent. That is just outrageous.
  It doesn't end there, though. Each year there are about 19 million 
new cases of sexually transmitted infections, and almost half of them 
occur in young people ages 15 to 24. The CDC recently found that young 
sexually active teenage girls are especially at risk as nearly one in 
four is living with a common sexually transmitted infection. Among 
sexually active African American teenage girls, nearly one in two is 
living a sexually transmitted infection. When it comes to HIV and AIDS, 
the story gets a heck of a lot worse. African American women are nearly 
15 times more likely to have HIV than white women, while Latinas are 
four times more likely to have HIV than white women. AIDS is also 
the leading cause of death among African American women between the 
ages of 24 and 34.

  So, clearly, we're not doing our part to provide women and our young 
people with the tools that they need to protect themselves. That's why 
I've introduced H.R. 1551, the Responsible Education About Life Act. I 
call it let's get real, my REAL Act. This bill will create the first 
Federal funding stream dedicated to teaching our young people about 
comprehensive sex education. The statistics I just mentioned really 
warrant this type of a bill to be passed and signed into law. Our young 
people need to know how to protect themselves.
  Yes, we need abstinence, and we need to teach our young people 
abstinence. But abstinence by itself does not work. We need an 
abstinence-plus approach that teaches about contraceptive use and 
condoms to prevent unplanned pregnancies and to reduce the spread of 
sexually transmitted infections. And so, once again, we have to look at 
some of the policies of the past and see exactly how devastating they 
have been in terms of the impact on our young women.
  And I certainly say the abstinence-only policy, based on the 
statistics I just read you tonight, deserves to be dismantled and 
abandoned, and we need to allow states to use Federal funding, if they 
so desire, and if the states think that this is the strategy they want 
to use, and that is, allow Federal money to be distributed to the 
states to teach comprehensive sex education to our young people so that 
they can grow up, go to school, do whatever they want to do without 
worry of unintended pregnancies or HIV and AIDS or sexually transmitted 
infections.
  So thank you, Congresswoman Fudge, for allowing me to speak this 
evening on this very tough issue. Sometimes we try to sweep these 
issues under the rug. But I think when it comes to our young women, our 
young girls, we have to be for real, and we have to talk about what we 
can do to help them protect themselves. Thank you again.

                              {time}  2000

  Ms. FUDGE. Madam Speaker, I just want to say to our Chair how 
appreciative I am that she has allowed me to anchor this hour for most 
of this year, and even though I may in fact be biased, I know that we 
have the most dedicated and hardworking Chair of any caucus in this 
House. So I thank you, and I thank you for being with me just about 
every week. I couldn't do it without you.
  Madam Speaker, as well I have been joined by my good friend and 
colleague from the great State of New York, the gentlelady from New 
York, Yvette Clarke.
  Ms. CLARKE. Madam Speaker, I would like to start this evening off in 
my address by thanking my esteemed colleague, the congresswoman from 
Ohio, Marcia Fudge, for giving me a moment to comment on women in small 
business. As the co-Chair of the Women's Caucus Task Force on Women and 
Education, Congresswoman Fudge has constantly demonstrated her 
leadership on these crucial issues, and you are to be commended.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you.
  Ms. CLARKE. I am especially pleased to be speaking on these issues 
with you here this evening because of the timeliness of this 
conversation. Women entrepreneurs have come a long way in recent 
decades, but more must be done to support them, especially in this dire 
economic environment.
  As the sole member of the Congressional Black Caucus on the Small 
Business Committee in the House--or the Senate, for that matter--I am 
constantly monitoring developments that affect women-owned small 
businesses, especially those in underserved areas. The impact of small 
businesses cannot be stated enough. We know the statistics, but it is 
worth going over it again.
  Small businesses are the key to the health of the U.S. economy. They 
represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms; they employ about half of 
all private sector employees; pay nearly 45 percent of the U.S. private 
payroll; and are responsible for more than half of the non-farming 
private GDP.
  Women-owned businesses are an important factor in this economic 
story. Recent studies show that there are close to 8 million individual 
women-owned small firms with a $3 trillion impact on our close to $14 
trillion economy employing close to 23 million people. These are great 
numbers, but I for one believe that more must be done. Not only do I 
believe it, but the facts bear it out.
  A recent study was released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York 
entitled ``Gender and the Availability of Credit to Privately Held 
Firms.'' This report relied on data on privately held businesses drawn 
from the Federal Reserve's Surveys of Small Businesses Finances 
covering the period of 1987 through 2003. Authors of the report 
concluded that when compared to male-owned firms, women-owned firms are 
significantly smaller as measured by sales, assets, and employment; 
younger, as measured by age of the firm; more likely to be in retail, 
trade, or business services, and less likely to be in construction, 
secondary manufacturing, and wholesale trade industries; and are more 
inclined to have fewer and shorter banking relationships. Women owners 
are significantly younger and less experienced and tend to have less 
formal education than their male counterparts.
  The report further found that women firms are significantly more 
likely to be credit-constrained because they are more likely to be 
discouraged from applying for credit, though not more likely to be 
denied credit when they do apply.
  This report reflects the fact that women-owned businesses have made 
great strides in recent years but that challenges to growth, business 
model diversification, technical capabilities, and ability to access 
capital remain.
  The bottom line is that women entrepreneurs need more support. I have 
long been an advocate for women-owned businesses, and it is vital that 
we improve existing programs and explore the need for new ones to 
narrow this achievement gap.
  Most recently, I have been hard at work exploring possible solutions 
for women entrepreneurs. Last month, I introduced H.R. 3771, the 
Veteran, Minority, and Women-Owned Construction Business Mentorship and 
Grant Assistance Act of 2009. This legislation would establish grant 
programs for women-owned small business construction companies to help 
create the internal business systems that are essential for success. 
Funds would also be made available to local groups and schools to 
bolster technical assistance to these firms. This bill would create 
opportunities in the highly competitive construction sector at a time 
when there has been a stark decline in construction activity due to the 
housing downturn. This legislation is really about capacity building 
for small firms so they can better compete for the many stimulus 
opportunities that are still being developed and deployed.
  Most of the total $787 billion in stimulus funds have yet to go out. 
Further,

[[Page H12988]]

most of the remaining funds are targeted to shovel-ready construction 
projects--projects that our women-owned businesses should and must 
participate in.
  I'd like to take this opportunity to applaud the women builders in 
this country. So often, the image of the construction industry is a 
burly man in a hard hat. Well, I've got news for you, gentlemen. Women 
builders face great obstacles and challenges, and in my experience, 
meet and exceed them consistently in a highly competitive environment. 
Our Nation's extraordinary women builders will benefit from this 
legislation, and I'd like to thank my colleagues, including 
Congresswoman Fudge, for supporting this bill. We have, as of today, 23 
cosponsors for the legislation. The growing support for this 
legislation is proof that Washington is waking up to the prominent role 
that small businesses, including our women-owned businesses, must play 
in our recovery.
  Finally, I have been tirelessly working to find ways to improve 
access to capital for women-owned businesses. It is no secret that our 
largest depository institutions are not lending as much as they could 
but are instead using the excess capital they have to provide capital 
buffers for their own balance sheet health, retarding any rebounds that 
could be fueled by small business lending.
  I applaud President Obama for announcing that his administration will 
be seeking low-cost loans to smaller banks and community development 
financial institutions, known as CDFIs, as a means to address the small 
business lending gap. I am especially supportive of CDFIs as a means of 
getting credit to our smaller women-owned firms in underserved and 
economically distressed areas. For every dollar of CDFI investment, $15 
of non-Federal dollars are leveraged to provide lending to deserving 
borrowers.
  I will be studying how to improve programs like CDFIs to leverage 
government investment to help people help themselves.
  Let us make no mistake, the last great frontier for women 
entrepreneurs--especially in our communities--will be consistent 
ability for them to access credit. I will fight tirelessly alongside my 
colleagues to make this a reality.
  As I said earlier, these are but a few of the challenges faced by 
women-owned businesses. I am always paying attention to the issues 
affecting our women entrepreneurs and I will for as long as I am a 
Member of Congress. Much work is left to be done, but with the great 
leadership of people like Congresswoman Fudge; the Chair of our CBC, 
Congresswoman Barbara Lee; and our Speaker, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I 
know we will get to where we need to be and beyond.

  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you so much.
  Madam Speaker, I'd like to thank my friend for coming this evening 
and thank her for her support of businesses and for her work on the 
Small Business Committee.
  Thank you again. I hope that you will join me another time.
  Ms. CLARKE. I look forward to it.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you.
  Madam Speaker, the CBC is composed of 42 members, including 4 
committee Chairs, 15 subcommittee Chairs, and the majority whip. Our 
members promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet 
the needs of millions of neglected citizens. CBC members are tireless 
advocates who work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress. We 
stand firm as the voice of the people and provide dedicated, focused 
service to our constituents.
  Madam Speaker, we are proud to anchor this hour to discuss Congress' 
responsiveness to an important constituency group, American women. 
Let's first understand the current role of women in the legislative 
process.
  Since 1917, when Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana became 
the first woman to serve in Congress, a total of 260 women have served 
as U.S. Representatives or Senators. Currently, more women now serve in 
Congress than at any time in the Nation's history. In this year's 
Congress, there are 17 women serving in the United States Senate and 74 
women serving in the United States House of Representatives. Of those 
Congresswomen currently serving in Congress, 14 are members of the CBC.
  Since the first Congresswoman of color, Representative Patsy Mink of 
Hawaii, won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964, a 
total of 39 women of color have served in the U.S. Congress. Roughly 
three quarters--or 30--of these women were elected after 1990, and a 
total of 38 have served in the House of Representatives, where Carol 
Moseley Braun of Illinois is the only woman of color to serve in the 
U.S. Senate, from 1993 to 1999. The first African American woman to 
serve in Congress was Shirley Chisholm of New York who won election in 
1968. Twenty-five African American women have followed her.
  There are some States who have never elected a woman to Congress. 
They are Delaware, Iowa, Mississippi, and Vermont. I look forward to 
having women from those States join us at some point, Madam Speaker.
  There are a historic number of women currently serving in Congress, 
including the first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who was 
elected Speaker in 2007. The 111th Congress understands that our 
Nation's laws must include and respond to all of our citizens, 
including women.
  Women in the Workforce. We addressed that when we looked at Lilly 
Ledbetter. Congress began this year addressing gender-based pay 
discrimination. In January, Congress swiftly and decisively passed the 
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Just days later, President Obama signed 
the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law and restored an employee's 
right to challenge unlawful pay discrimination.
  The Paycheck Fairness Act passed by the House on January 9 takes 
further steps to ensure that gender-based pay discrimination does not 
occur in the first place by closing the loopholes that have allowed 
employers to avoid responsibility for discriminatory pay. A 
comprehensive update to the 46-year-old Equal Pay Act, The Paycheck 
Fairness Act puts gender-based discrimination sanctions on equal 
footing with other forms of wage discrimination, such as race, 
disability, or age. It creates a new grant program to help strengthen 
the salary negotiation skills of girls and women. And it creates strong 
incentives for employers to equally compensate workers while 
strengthening correlating Federal enforcement efforts.
  In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law. 
Progress has been slow during the 46 years since passage of the act. 
After four decades, American women continue to be unfairly compensated 
for their work. According to the National Organization for Women, when 
the Equal Pay Act was signed into law, women working full time and year 
round earned an average of 59 cents for every dollar earned by men; in 
2007, women made 78 cents for every dollar earned by men; today, the 
gap has narrowed by less than a half a cent a year.
  The impact of income disparity extends far beyond the individual 
woman. As such, equal pay is not just a women's issue, it is a family 
issue.

                              {time}  2015

  The current wage gap hurts everyone. It lowers family income for 
essentials such as groceries, doctor's visits, and child care. When 
women earn more, families benefit. Closing the wage gap is an integral 
part of strengthening American families and providing hope for a better 
future.
  I stand in support of equal pay for all. I look forward to the day 
when all women receive equal pay for equal work.
  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act recognized the need to get 
our people back to work, and that includes women. During the current 
recession, from December 2007 until September 2009, roughly 2 million 
women lost their jobs, according to employers across this Nation. As of 
September, women represented 49.9 percent of all workers, excluding 
those in the Armed Forces and farmworkers.
  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contains powerful 
provisions to retrain workers. The American Recovery and Reinvestment 
Act has made nearly $4 billion in new funding available through the 
Department of Labor for job training programs. Just under $3 billion of 
this funding has already gone out to States through formula grants 
under the Workforce Investment Act.

[[Page H12989]]

  Speaking with Lori Atkins, the deputy director of workforce training 
in Cuyahoga County where I live, I learned the county will receive $14 
million for training. The money will help dislocated adult and youth 
workers, including America's women. Another $750 million will be 
allocated through competitive grants to train people in green jobs and 
health care and other high-demand sectors. While women are 
underrepresented in many of these high-demand sectors, we can be 
retrained to compete for these jobs.
  I am proud of community organizations that retrain women in 
nontraditional industries. Hard Hatted Women is one such organization. 
The nonprofit, located in Cleveland, Ohio, is launching a new program 
called Tradeswomen TOOLS. This program will link women to opportunities 
in high-wage, nontraditional fields using the expertise of women 
working on diversity initiatives in these fields. The goal is to link 
unemployed women with employment opportunities within the building 
trades in heavy highway construction, the energy and utility sector, 
the green building sector, and advanced manufacturing. Tradeswomen 
TOOLS provides orientation to nontraditional careers, industry specific 
workshops and presentations, individualized career counseling, one stop 
center for referrals, and math and physical fitness for the trades. The 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and organizations like Hard 
Hatted Women provide women the resources to get back to work.
  Now I would like to talk a bit about women and education challenges. 
Madam Speaker, we must ensure that our girls graduate from high school 
in order to financially provide for themselves. According to the 
National Women's Law Center, an estimated 25 percent of female students 
do not graduate with a high school diploma in 4 years. Girls of color 
are particularly affected by this trend. Across the Nation, in 2004, 37 
percent of Hispanics, 40 percent of black, and 50 percent of American 
Indian or Alaskan Native female students failed to graduate in 4 years.
  While there are many factors that contribute to students dropping out 
of school, some are unique to girls. Those factors are: first, 
pregnancy and parenting responsibilities. According to a survey 
conducted by the Gates Foundation, 33 percent of female dropouts 
reported that becoming a parent played a major role in their decision 
to leave school. Specifically, students cited the lack of affordable 
day care for their children. While some high schools provide subsidized 
care for student parents, many do not. The school itself then becomes a 
determinant in whether the student remains in school.
  In many schools where a certain number of absences result in students 
forfeiting a class, teen mothers need child-related absences not 
counted toward their total number of absences, and most could benefit 
from counseling in time management, parenting skills, and referrals to 
services for their children.
  Poor attendance rates influenced by a high occurrence of sexual 
harassment by peers and educators is another reason why young women 
drop out of school. During the same Gates Foundation survey, 83 percent 
of girls were victims of sexual harassment in school. Suffering abuse 
at the hands of peers, teachers, and other school administrators, these 
girls reported that the abuse caused them not to want to attend school 
to avoid the teacher responsible for the harassment, to stop 
participating in the classroom, and to be distracted from their 
studies.
  Unfortunately, when we fail to create a safe space in our schools, we 
undermine the success of all students, especially girls, their future 
families, and our Nation. According to the study ``When Girls Don't 
Graduate, We All Fail: A Call to Improve High School Graduation Rates 
for Girls,'' female dropouts earn significantly lower wages than male 
dropouts, are at a greater risk of unemployment, and are more likely to 
rely on public support programs. Female high school dropouts earn only 
about 63 cents for every $1 earned by male high school dropouts. 
Measured against the Federal poverty line, women without high school 
diplomas earn an average salary about 7 percent below the family 
poverty line for a family of three, $15,520 versus $16,600. Women with 
high school diplomas earn an average salary about 32 percent above the 
Federal poverty line, or $21,936 to $16,600.
  Female dropouts struggle with worse health conditions and less access 
to health coverage to address their needs than girls who graduate from 
high school.
  Women under the Affordable Health Care of America Act are among those 
who stand to gain the most from health insurance reform. Madam Speaker, 
we pay more, we get less, and some of the ways we are treated by 
insurance companies is just criminal.
  Recently, I met Mrs. Jodie Miller of Maryland, a mother who conceived 
triplets through in vitro fertilization. Mrs. and Mr. Miller were later 
denied health coverage because their insurance company declared that 
they had preexisting conditions. She was denied because of her 
infertility. The insurance company denied Mr. Miller coverage due to 
what they deemed ``spousal infertility.'' America's Affordable Health 
Care Act will outlaw such discrimination based on preexisting 
conditions.
  The Affordable Health Care for America Act would revolutionize health 
care for women, ending the discrimination we face under our current 
system. More than 14 million American women who have purchased health 
insurance in the private market last year paid up to 48 percent more in 
premium costs than men. Insurance companies routinely practice what 
they call gender rating, and that permits them to charge men and women 
different premiums for the very same coverage. The Affordable Health 
Care for America Act would make gender rating illegal. Never again will 
insurance companies be able to deny women coverage for C-sections 
because we are pregnant or because we are victims of domestic violence. 
Never again, Madam Speaker, will insurance companies be able to deny us 
coverage just for being women.
  The House's health reform proposal would make health care affordable 
for all of America's women and protect us from high and potentially 
unimaginable out-of-pocket health care costs. We must and will improve 
health care for not only women, but for all Americans.

  I want to talk about women of color and disproportionately being 
targeted for high-cost mortgages.
  According to a report for the National Council of Negro Women 
researched by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, African 
American and Latino women continue to receive disparate treatment in 
the mortgage lending process. The report, ``Assessing the Double 
Burden: Examining Racial and Gender Disparities in Mortgage Lending,'' 
demonstrates that minorities continue to be much more likely to receive 
high-cost home mortgage loans than their white counterparts. In many 
instances, disparities by race widened as income levels increased, 
indicating that discrimination remains a reality in home mortgage 
lending, as reports by the Federal Reserve and others have documented.
  The foreclosure epidemic is, in part, rooted in the targeting of 
communities of color for high-cost loans. The report finds that 
minorities were first to experience disproportionately high rates of 
foreclosure. As the foreclosure crisis continued to spread to suburban 
areas, the study suggests that middle- and upper-income minorities will 
continue to experience a disproportionate impact, which is especially 
pronounced for African American women.
  Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever of the National Council of Negro Women 
commented that, ``Given the importance of homeownership to families and 
entire communities, it becomes clear that we simply cannot rest until 
every person, regardless of race or gender, is treated fairly at every 
stage of the mortgage lending process.''
  The report examined data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure 
Act for the year 2007, which is the latest year for which data is 
publicly available, for 100 of the largest metropolitan areas in the 
country. Among the findings, middle- and upper-income African American 
females were at least twice as likely to receive high-cost loans as 
middle- and upper-income white females in more than 84 percent of the 
metropolitan areas examined.
  Low- and moderate-income African American females were at least twice 
as likely to receive high-cost loans as

[[Page H12990]]

low- and moderate-income white females in 70 percent of the 
metropolitan areas examined.
  Middle- and upper-income Hispanic females were at least twice as 
likely to receive high-cost loans as middle- and upper-income white 
females in almost 62 percent of the metropolitan areas examined, and 
low- and moderate-income Hispanic females were at least twice as likely 
as low- and moderate-income white females to receive high-cost loans in 
32 percent of the metropolitan areas examined.
  The foreclosure crisis has definitely affected my congressional 
district. The Center for Responsible Lending projected that more than 
5,500 foreclosures will occur in my district in 2009, and more than 
18,500 foreclosures will occur over the next 4 years.
  The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act is to respond to 
the foreclosure crisis. In May, the House of Representatives passed the 
Predatory Mortgage Lending Practices Reduction Act of 2009. If the act 
passes the Senate, it will strengthen restrictions on compensation paid 
to mortgage lenders and brokers.
  Today, some lenders deceptively pay brokers extra fees for loans if 
they write loans at a higher interest rate, even when lower rates are 
available to borrowers. The rates are unreasonable, and borrowers are 
often subsequently forced into foreclosure. Such arrangements are an 
indefensible conflict of interest and must be stopped.
  A key element of the act prohibits lenders from underwriting 
unreasonable loans and prohibits practices that increase the risk of 
foreclosure.
  The act supports lenders making 30-year, fixed rate, fully documented 
loans rather than the record number of unstable loans marketed today. 
It also provides greater protections for renters of foreclosed 
properties, like requiring a mandatory 90-day notice to vacate instead 
of the arbitrary practices currently being used.
  The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act is crucial in 
curbing the predatory practices of the past. Mortgage lending reform is 
a vital piece of the congressional effort to prevent future financial 
disasters. Congress cannot, and will not, ignore the fact that lax 
regulation of this industry has left far too many consumers 
unprotected. I urge the Senate to pass this measure soon.
  In response to the predatory practices of some mortgage brokers and 
agents, I introduced the Predatory Mortgage Lending Practices Reduction 
Act of 2009, H.R. 2108. The act is designed to assure consumers that 
mortgage brokers or agents are thoroughly trained and accountable for 
predatory practices. It does this by altering the law in three ways.

                              {time}  2030

  First, the act requires that brokers and agents issuing subprime 
loans undertake a rigorous certification program. Second, the 
legislation streamlines the process for filing complaints against 
unethical brokers and agents. And, finally, the act creates civil 
penalties for violations of Federal predatory lending laws.
  Madam Speaker, there are honest and decent mortgage brokers and 
agents in this industry. Then there are a relatively few number of 
unscrupulous individuals who earn their commission through deception. 
The Predatory Mortgage Lending Practices Reduction Act of 2009 would 
help protect consumers from the latter class of lenders by ensuring 
that all related personnel are properly trained and held accountable.
  Madam Speaker, further, I, on a regular basis, host housing clinics 
within my district. I do this in order to educate women about predatory 
lending, about housing scams and their rights under foreclosure.
  In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I would quote from Susan B. Anthony who 
said it was ``we the people,'' not we the white male citizens, nor yet 
we the male citizens, but we the whole people who formed the union; men 
their rights and nothing more; women their rights and nothing less. By 
responding to the needs of all Americans, Congress will address the 
needs of all women as well.

                          ____________________