[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10652-10653]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FRAUD ENFORCEMENT AND RECOVERY ACT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, every day brings more bad news for American 
homeowners. In Las Vegas alone, 1 in every 22 families received a 
foreclosure notice between January and March. That is seven times the 
national average. All across the country, the numbers have skyrocketed 
since the beginning of the year. As foreclosures menace more and more 
hard-working homeowners, they become more desperate for help. 
Unfortunately, schemers, swindlers, and scam artists are all too happy 
to pounce. Just today it was announced that the Justice Department 
charged five people in Maryland with orchestrating a massive and 
complex mortgage fraud scheme. The company cheated more than 1,000 
people out of more than $70 million. There would be more of these cases 
filed if the authorities had more resources to do so.
  This week, we are going to vote on the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery 
Act. This bill provides critical funding and new tools to let law 
enforcement prosecute and punish those responsible for the mortgage and 
corporate frauds that have hurt countless hard-working Americans and 
led to the worst financial crisis in decades. Passing this bill will be 
a crucial step toward deterring the types of financial fraud and 
illegal manipulation of markets that are the root cause of the current 
economic crisis.
  Law enforcement agencies charged with protecting the American people 
from financial fraud are chronically understaffed. These agencies are 
in desperate need of personnel to help them because these schemes, such 
as the one I mentioned in Maryland, are ones where people have to be 
involved. You just can't do this working out of some office. We need 
investigators, we need prosecutors, we need personnel with specialized 
knowledge who can investigate and prosecute complicated money-
laundering schemes, mortgage fraud, and conspiracies to manipulate 
derivatives. The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act will give the FBI, 
the Department of Justice, and other Federal agencies the resources to 
hire the help they need to protect American investments. It will also 
close several legal loopholes that otherwise may allow individuals 
guilty of criminal conduct to evade prosecution. Individuals who have 
engaged in corruption or deliberate criminal behavior should not be 
able to escape punishment on a technicality.
  This bill would update Federal fraud statutes to include mortgage 
lending businesses that are not directly regulated or insured by the 
Federal Government. Although these companies were responsible for 
nearly half of the residential mortgage market before the economic 
collapse, they have remained largely unregulated. It would also protect 
the funds provided under the economic recovery plan and the Troubled 
Asset Relief Program and swiftly punish anyone who would attempt to 
misuse this money.

[[Page 10653]]

  Finally, this bill will strengthen the False Claims Act, one of the 
most important civil tools we have for rooting out fraud in Government. 
In the last few months, we have taken strong steps to steer the 
American economy toward recovery, but we must do more. We must ensure 
that the money we are spending to get our economy back on track is used 
in the manner in which we intended it.
  The American people are depending on us to act quickly to ensure that 
those whose criminal behavior caused the current financial crisis are 
brought to justice and to ensure law enforcement has the tools and 
resources to deter such conduct in the future. We cannot allow con 
artists to cheat working families who play by the rules. We cannot 
allow them to deceive those who make an honest living. We cannot let 
them steal from people who seek nothing more than their fair share of 
the American dream.
  I would like to spread across the record here what terrific work 
Senator Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has done--and 
members on his committee. This is important legislation. The wise 
nature of Senator Leahy and his experience have allowed this bill to be 
reported out of that big committee, and it is going to pass tomorrow. I 
commend and applaud Senator Leahy for his good work. It is something 
the country has badly needed. It is long overdue, but it is certainly 
ripe for passage now.
  I urge my colleagues to support the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery 
Act and protect struggling homeowners at the time they need it the 
most.

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