[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12127]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                                  CRA

  (Mr. MEEKS of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MEEKS of New York. Madam Speaker, as we seek to provide banks and 
other financial companies with an environment that would allow them to 
expand their powers and become more competitive globally, it is our 
responsibility to make certain that our constituents, the financial 
institutions' customers, are also provided with an environment that 
would allow them to prosper.
  Since 1977, banks and thrifts have made over $1 trillion in loan 
pledges to low-income areas. CRA investments have been widely credited 
with dramatically increasing home ownership, restoring distressed 
communities, and helping small businesses and meeting the unique credit 
needs of rural America.
  I cosponsored an amendment offered in the Committee on Banking and 
Financial Services that would make bank affiliates that sell bank-like 
financial products subject to CRA review on those products. If they 
want to play on the same ball field they have to play by the same 
rules.
  If this amendment is enacted in the House, on the House floor, bank 
affiliates will be pleasantly surprised to see that the same result 
will occur as my banking colleagues did; there is a profit to be made 
in low-income rural and minority communities.
  CRA has been good for banks and great for our communities.

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