[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 29, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H1264-H1267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXPRESSING SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS SHOULD WORK
PROACTIVELY WITH CUSTOMERS AFFECTED BY SHUTDOWN OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
resolution (H. Res. 77) expressing the sense of Congress that financial
institutions and other companies should work proactively with their
customers affected by the shutdown of the Federal Government who may be
facing short-term financial hardship and long-term damage to their
creditworthiness through no fault of their own, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 77
Resolved, That it is the sense of Congress that--
(1) financial institutions and other entities, such as
landlords, consumer reporting agencies and companies engaged
in the production of consumer scores, should help consumers
affected by any shutdown of the Federal Government, including
the shutdown that began on December 22, 2018;
(2) even with the recent conclusion of the shutdown, the
period of recovery has just begun and the negative impact the
shutdown is having on millions of consumers and the U.S.
economy is significant; for example, analysis from S&P Global
Ratings estimates that the U.S. economy has already lost more
than $6 billion as of January 25, 2019, and if the shutdown
were to resume in a few weeks, the analysis suggests there
would be a further reduction of real Gross Domestic Product
by $1.2 billion each week the government is shutdown;
(3) financial institutions and other companies, such as
consumer reporting agencies and companies engaged in the
production of consumer scores, should provide opportunities
for consumers affected by any shutdown--including Federal
employees, government contractors, small businesses, and
other individuals--who are or will be facing financial
distress to easily contact and alert them of their situation
immediately;
(4) affected consumers may face financial hardship and
emotional distress in making timely payments on their debts,
such as mortgages, student loans, car loans, credit cards,
and other debt, as well as paying for rent, food,
transportation, school and other basic necessities, due to
the temporary delay or permanent loss of their income;
(5) to provide quick relief to their affected customers or
tenants, financial institutions and other entities, such as
landlords, respectively, should for the duration of any
shutdown, as well as for a reasonable period of time
following a shutdown, consider waiving or reducing penalty,
late payment, and similar fees; ceasing evictions and
foreclosures; and providing forbearance;
(6) consumers affected by the shutdown, whose income are
directly or indirectly dependent on the full operation of the
Federal Government, may be experiencing financial and
emotional stress through no fault of
[[Page H1265]]
their own and their creditworthiness should not be impaired
because of the shutdown;
(7) financial institutions and other companies, such as
consumer reporting agencies and companies engaged in the
production of consumer scores, should take steps to prevent
adverse information being reported and utilized in any manner
that harms affected consumers, including by preventing
modified credit arrangements intended to help consumers
fulfill their financial obligations from being reported to,
and coded by, consumer reporting agencies on a person's
credit report in a manner that hurts the creditworthiness of
the affected consumers;
(8) new products, services, or prudent workout arrangements
designed to help affected consumers that are consistent with
safe and sound lending practices are generally in the long-
term best interest of the financial institution, the
consumer, and the economy;
(9) financial institutions should work proactively to
identify their customers who have been affected by any
shutdown and adopt flexible, prudent arrangements to help
such customers meet their debt and other obligations; and
(10) prudent efforts to adopt flexible workout arrangements
for affected consumers should not be subject to examiner
criticism or negative examinations.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Waters) and the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
McHenry) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.
General Leave
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from California?
There was no objection.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 77, as
amended. President Trump's historic 35-day shutdown of the Federal
Government has had a deeply harmful impact on millions of Americans and
the U.S. economy.
While this shutdown recently came to an end, we must not forget the
recovery has just begun for a wide range of affected consumers,
including Federal employees, contractors, small businesses, and other
individuals.
Many of those people will not receive back pay. Many of them have
various financial obligations, like a mortgage, or a student loan
payment that they may have missed. However, they did not cause the
shutdown and should not suffer any negative consequences from it.
Financial institutions and other entities, like landlords and
consumer reporting agencies, can play a key role in helping these
innocent people. Given the financial hardship and emotional distress
these consumers face, through no fault of their own, I introduced H.
Res. 77 to send a strong message to the financial industry that they
should do what they can to help these innocent consumers.
Specifically, the resolution expresses the sense of Congress that
financial institutions and other entities should work proactively to
help all consumers affected by the shutdown. This includes waiving
fees, ceasing evictions and foreclosures, and otherwise providing
forbearance for any affected consumer, as well as taking steps to
ensure their creditworthiness is not impaired because of the shutdown.
Financial regulators agree that it is appropriate for financial
institutions to offer prudent accommodations to help their affected
customers. On January 10, I wrote to the regulators to encourage them
to provide public guidance to financial institutions to underscore they
could affirmatively make prudent workout arrangements consistent with
safety and soundness without fear of being subject to examiner
criticisms. I am glad that they made such a statement the very next
day.
On January 18, I wrote a letter to various financial services trade
organizations, as well as the three largest credit reporting agencies,
to encourage their institutions and member companies to take all
prudent and appropriate actions, including those outlined in the
regulators interagency statement, to help any consumer who may be
affected by the shutdown.
While I appreciate that many financial institutions have already
announced various accommodations for affected consumers, I believe it
is important that there be a robust effort by all financial
institutions, consumer reporting agencies, and others to do what they
can to help in the weeks and months to come which H. Res. 77 seeks to
encourage.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 77, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the 800,000 Federal
employees impacted by the partial government shutdown and express my
sincere agreement that banks and Federal regulators should do the
compassionate and the sensible thing, to support customers in need of
assistance.
Mr. Speaker, whether it was a missed credit card payment or an
unexpected medical expense, many furloughed Federal employees have
faced economic hardships over the last 35 days, through no fault of
their own. A string of dead-end and dead-on-arrival bills and
nonstarter negotiations thrust hardworking Federal employees into the
middle of a political fight, all over commonsense border security
measures that I support, and that many Democrats have supported
previously.
Our only course of action at that time and now is to try and provide
some relief to those who are in need, and most importantly, find a
solution to ensure that the government doesn't shut down again on
February 15. But those are larger political issues, and we are trying
to be of substance as to what we can do to be of assistance to those
who were affected by the government shutdown within our committee of
jurisdiction, the Financial Services Committee.
I appreciate Chairwoman Waters' efforts to provide support for
hardworking Federal employees by introducing this resolution and
encouraging banks to assist their customers in need.
Thankfully, many financial institutions are already doing exactly
what is suggested in this resolution, and that, as Chairwoman Waters
said in her statement, is at the urging of Members of Congress, but
also their understanding of the needs in their communities, like
waiving late fees for furloughed employees, or the other over 100 banks
that took it upon themselves for loan modifications and payment
deadline extension, payroll advances, low-rate and zero-rate loans, as
well as other accommodations, and those are wonderful things, positive
things.
Unfortunately, we now find ourselves in a situation where the
financial regulatory regime has left banks trying their best under a
cloud of uncertainty on how regulators will react to their efforts
during the government shutdown.
While I agree with my colleague across the aisle that we should
encourage banks to work more proactively with customers affected in the
shutdown, we must also encourage our financial regulators to provide
clarity to our financial institutions that they are permitted to
provide that type of relief.
I have no doubt this issue will be a part of a larger conversation I
hope that we can have on the Financial Services Committee about what
regulators are doing to help individual taxpayers and also what they
are doing that hurts the American people as well.
Mr. Speaker, I think this is a good bill that I encourage my
colleagues to support.
Mr. HARRIS. Will the gentleman yield for a question?
Mr. McHENRY. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, my reading of the bill is not furloughed
employees. It is anyone affected. It has a very broad definition.
Without putting any guardrails on it, one could argue that every
American was probably affected in some way. Is that true? Is my reading
of the bill that this extends way beyond furloughed employees? It
affects any consumer affected. Is that correct?
Mr. McHENRY. Reclaiming my time, I did not write the legislation. The
intention here is the encouragement of Federal regulators to take a new
look. I think that is the broad understanding of what this resolution
gets to. I reserve the balance of my time.
[[Page H1266]]
{time} 1400
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
New York (Ms. Velazquez), who is a senior member of the Financial
Services Committee and chairwoman of the Small Business Committee.
Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman, Maxine Waters,
and the ranking member, Mr. McHenry, for this important resolution.
Last week, Democrats stood united and ended the longest government
shutdown in history. We should be clear: This shutdown was caused
solely by President Trump's personal obsession with the border wall.
Roughly 800,000 Federal workers were either furloughed or forced to
work without pay. More than 1 million contractors were forced to miss
multiple paychecks.
Now, Donald Trump may not relate to this, but for these workers, this
means bills piling up. It means choosing between putting gasoline in
your car or groceries in your refrigerator.
Throughout the shutdown, my office was in contact with several
financial institutions and companies that were offering forbearance
options, waiving late fees, and providing short-term, no-interest loans
for affected workers. That is admirable, and I thank them.
However, the media also reported on numerous workers who were forced
to take out personal loans and cash advances on credit cards, or who
even turned to predatory payday loans to make ends meet.
For example, NBC News recently reported on one company offering
personal installment loans that had seen an uptick in customers looking
to use their products. It is perhaps no coincidence that this uptick
coincided with a nearly 19 percent rise in the company's stock since
the shutdown began.
This is unconscionable. Financial institutions and companies should
not be preying on Federal employees or contractors who went nearly a
month without pay. Instead, they should be working with those affected
to get them back on track and rebuild their lives.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Chair Waters for offering this important
resolution to further that goal, and I urge all my colleagues to vote
``yes.''
Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from West
Virginia (Mr. Mooney).
Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia. Actually, Mr. Speaker, I have a point of
clarification for the chairman.
Is this bill affecting all furloughed Federal workers, anyone
furloughed, or anyone affected by the furlough in any way? Any
consumer, any American that is affected?
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, this resolution is intended not only to help
Federal employees as such, but contractors, small businesses, and
others that are connected to government in ways that you may not be
able to absolutely identify here. You may have folks who are
consultants who are not considered contractors. You may have others who
will be affected by this who maybe had a contract with the Federal
Government that is now in litigation that has to be dealt with.
That is what we are intending to do, not just have a blanket,
blanket, blanket, but some connection to the Federal Government.
Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, in West Virginia's Second
District, we have a lot of Federal workers and contractors who are
affected.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentleman from West Virginia.
Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for
clarifying that.
Of course, there are a lot of folks in my district who are affected
by the shutdown and also affected indirectly because they are
contractors and such. I have had them approach me over the last few
weeks, wondering if their backlogged projects were going to get funded.
It is important to clarify that.
Of course, we should backpay people, and the good, hardworking
Americans who make this country go around need to get paid.
I understand a little bit of an obsession on the other side against a
border wall that was mentioned by the previous speaker, when this is
really about how government should function and appropriate funds in
the appropriate way, and the power of the purse. Frankly, getting bills
through the House and the Senate has become quite a problem,
particularly with the other Chamber, which doesn't seem to pass
anything and then wants us to do just whatever the Senate does.
We have a lot of dysfunction, particularly on the other side, and
that is what has cost the workers, not this wall. The wall is something
the President said he would do. It is not the wall; it is the
dysfunction of passing bills around here that has caused these
problems.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader for the extra minute.
Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, let me say this: I know that we all want to
help all of those who have been affected by the shutdown, and so I hope
I was able to clarify that, so that people can help the constituents in
their districts even in ways they may not have understood.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Lawson).
Mr. LAWSON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 77.
This resolution expresses the sense that financial institutions should
do everything within their power to ensure that their customers who
were impacted by the Trump shutdown receive the resources they need to
get back on track.
Nearly 800,000 Federal workers across this Nation were impacted by
the shutdown, 13,000 of which are in my district. Throughout my
district in Florida, from Quincy, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and even
in the rural areas, constituents expressed to me the challenges of not
receiving their paychecks. This meant not paying their mortgage or
rent, not paying for childcare, hardships purchasing gas and groceries,
or having to miss a car note. Some of these individuals even relied on
their banks for loans.
These are hardworking Americans who did not ask for the shutdown,
should not have had to suffer as a pawn in the shutdown, or did not
deserve to be furloughed because of a shutdown. That is unacceptable.
Because of the shutdown, these employees made difficult financial
decisions. That is why it is necessary for our financial institutions
to step up and provide relief to those impacted. That means extending
payment deadlines, reducing the interest rate on short-term loans, and
providing financial and customer education that will help Federal
employees prepare for the potential of other financial hardships.
Mr. Speaker, I applaud Congresswoman Waters for introducing this
resolution and for standing up for Federal workers, and I ask that all
of my colleagues in this House vote in favor.
Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this House resolution. I
think this resolution truly expresses the sense of Congress that we
should provide relief that, voluntarily, over 100 financial
institutions have already committed to do publicly over the course of
the shutdown. But I think it shows that we are a compassionate group of
folks here in the House of Representatives and that we want to be
sensible in every way possible, even in the midst of these major
political fights that do occur from time to time, perhaps, here on this
House floor.
Those disagreements notwithstanding, what we want to do is work in a
proactive way and in a bipartisan way to convey to the public that
there are sensible things that we are about, and that Republicans and
Democrats still can get things done here on the House floor, here doing
the people's business and the people's work.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support Chairwoman Waters'
resolution here today, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
Mr. Speaker, this shutdown has inflicted tremendous harm on consumers
and the U.S. economy. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the
initial cost for the recent shutdown is more than $11 billion and
wrote: ``Among those who experienced the
[[Page H1267]]
largest and most direct negative effects are Federal workers who faced
delayed compensation and private-sector entities that lost business.
Some of those private-sector entities will never recoup that lost
income. . . . And people who lost income and consequently borrowed
money during the shutdown will see an increase in expenses as they pay
interest on that debt.''
I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle would agree that it
would be unfair if these innocent consumers were to suffer any negative
consequences from the shutdown and that financial institutions and
others should do what they can to help.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to try and give some comfort to those who
think that maybe there are individuals who are not federally connected
who would be getting help with this kind of approach, but that is
absolutely not true. I could not list every possible way, but I am
reminded that my husband was an Ambassador to the Commonwealth of the
Bahamas. I am reminded of the families who were there. I am reminded of
the children whose education we paid for while they were in that
country, and the education of other families of ambassadors and
diplomats for whom the Federal Government pays. We would not want to
not reimburse for the education of our children in foreign countries,
et cetera. So there are many ways that people who are connected to the
Federal Government are impacted by this.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to say to Mr. McHenry: Thank you so very
much for your support.
Again, this is a fine example of how both sides of the aisle can
agree on a commonsense resolution that will help all those who have
been impacted by this shutdown.
I am very pleased to have the support of Mr. McHenry. We have been
trying desperately in the work that we do, as we began this session of
Congress, to show that you can work cooperatively with both sides of
the aisle working together on a bill, resolution, legislation, et
cetera, that really does support and help our families and all the
people in the country who are looking to us for support and leadership.
Again, I thank Mr. McHenry, and I thank all the Members on the
opposite side of the aisle who get this and who understand it and whose
contractors and others are on them saying: What are you going to do?
What are you going to do?
This is our effort, and I appreciate their support.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) that the House suspend the
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 77, as amended
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, a motion to reconsider is
laid on the table.
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I object.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Objection is heard.
____________________