[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 182 (Wednesday, November 8, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H8646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       DOJ FALSE CLAIMS ACT ISSUE

  (Mr. SESSIONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on the Department of 
Justice to impose a moratorium on its practice of using the False 
Claims Act to demand settlements from America's mortgage brokers for 
perceived violations in the loans these lenders made under the Federal 
Housing Authority's mortgage insurance program.
  Simply put, intentional efforts to defraud the Federal Government 
should be prosecuted and pursued to the fullest extent of the law. 
However, as the FHA has worked to provide further clarification on the 
law, the Department of Justice has, unfortunately, focused their 
efforts on attacking honest mortgage brokers, lenders, and first-time 
home buyers for infractions as small as a clerical error or a small 
technical mistake.
  The FHA, in conjunction with HUD, is close to finalizing a taxonomy 
that would allow for a specific and transparent penalty to be imposed 
for a specific violation of the FHA application loan process. But as 
Brian Montgomery, the nominee to be Assistant Secretary for Housing, 
told the Senate Banking Committee last week, the Department of Justice 
has stepped in front of the FHA. We should correct this circumstance.

                          ____________________