Download the podcast here: January 23, 2008

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today held a press conference to discuss the recent market volatility and downturn in the American economy, as well as the priorities that the Banking Committee will focus on over the year ahead to help working families and businesses achieve economic security and prosperity.  Below are his remarks as prepared:

January 23, 3008

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today held a press conference to discuss the recent market volatility and downturn in the American economy, as well as the priorities that the Banking Committee will focus on over the year ahead to help working families and businesses achieve economic security and prosperity.  Below are his remarks as prepared:

January 16, 2008

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today announced that Connecticut residents would receive $13,598,024 in federal funding to help low-income households pay for their home heating costs. The money, provided by the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, helps pay the winter heating bills or summer cooling bills of low-income and elderly people.

December 21, 2007

Nearing the end of his first year as Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Chris Dodd, D-Conn., highlighted the bipartisan accomplishments of the Committee this year and commended Committee members for producing an extensive list of legislative achievements that strengthen security, expand opportunity, and increase prosperity for all Americans.  Highlights of the Senate Banking Committee’s legislative accomplishments during the 110th Congress include measures which:

December 18, 2007

“Regrettably, Chairman Bernanke, Governor Kroszner and the Federal Reserve Board took a significant step backwards today.  The Board did not even have the courage of its convictions -- the Board weakened its earlier guidance on requiring an originator to fully analyze a borrower’s ability to repay the mortgage at the fully indexed rate, the most fundamental measure of good lending.   Because this rule requires a  showing of  a ‘pattern and practice’ of violations, no individual subprime borrower would be guaranteed the protections that the earlier guidance promised to extend -- that the mortgage they receive will be affordable to them, even after the payment shock hits.  In fact, in a joint report with HUD in 1998, the Board acknowledged that the ‘pattern and practice’ standard is very difficult to prove, and suggested that the Congress eliminate the standard.

December 14, 2007

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, today announced that the Senate has approved the Federal Housing Administration Modernization Act of 2007. The legislation seeks to help American families that have been hit hard by the current crisis in the mortgage markets, including those who currently face the threat of foreclosure and those who may be trying to find fair and affordable financing to buy a new home.

Banking Chairman’s bill will reform subprime lending practices, strengthen borrower protections, restore confidence in markets

December 12, 2007

As a part of his comprehensive strategy to protect, preserve and promote the American dream of homeownership, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today introduced legislation to help put an end to the abusive and predatory lending practices that have sent thousands of Americans into foreclosure and put thousands more in danger of losing their homes.  The Homeownership Preservation and Protection Act of 2007 is cosponsored by Senators Reed (D-RI), Schumer (D-NY), Menendez (D-NJ), Akaka (D-HI), Brown (D-OH), Casey (D-PA), Kennedy (D-MA), Kerry (D-MA), Harkin (D-IA), Mikulski (D-MD), Boxer (D-CA), McCaskill (D-MO), and Klobuchar (D-MN).  Dodd’s bill enjoys support from organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), and the Center for Responsible Lending, among others.   

December 11, 2007

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, today made the following remarks in reaction to the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by a quarter-point:

“Today’s action by the Fed clearly indicates that the problems that originated in the sub-prime mortgage market continue to reverberate through the financial system and the broader economy. Just as the Fed has a duty to manage monetary policy in times of turmoil, so, too, does it have a duty to protect homebuyers from unfair and deceptive practices.  The Fed has failed to adequately carry out this duty over the past 13 years by failing to meet its obligations under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA). It is my hope that the Fed’s upcoming HOEPA proposal will represent a substantial change in approach by the Fed.  As a regulator, no less than as a monetary policymaker, the Fed must address the serious problems in the mortgage market which are at the root of the broader economic challenges that our nation now faces.”

Banking and Other Democrats Urge Bernanke To Include Key Protections in Rulemaking under the Home Owners Equity Protection Act (HOEPA)

December 7, 2007 

Washington, D.C. – Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, today sent a letter to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke to urge the Fed to write the strongest regulatory protections possible as they undertake rulemaking authority under the Home Owners Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) of 1994.   Dodd called on the Fed to include four critical components including the need to establish a clear ability-to-pay standard; require escrow accounts for taxes and insurance; constrain the use of no- and low-documentation mortgages; and prohibit prepayment penalties for subprime mortgages.   Dodd was joined by all Banking Committee Democrats, including Senators Tim Johnson, D-S.D., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Evan Bayh, D-IN., Thomas Carper, D-Del., Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Daniel Akaka, D-HI., Sherrod Brown, D-OH, Robert Casey, D-PA., and Jon Tester, D-MT.  Other Democrats signing the letter include Senators John Kerry, D-Mass., Herb Kohl, D-WI., Russ Feingold, D-WI., Barbara Boxer, D-CA., Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Amy Klobuchar,  D-MN.

December 6, 2007

Washington, D.C. – Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, today made the following remarks in response to President Bush’s new housing proposal: 

“Our nation’s economic foundation has been severely damaged by this housing crisis, with record foreclosures announced just today.  For the Administration, already late in addressing this crisis, to put forth an agreement that amounts to little more than financial wallpaper is insufficient to say the least.  The fact that not one homeowner captured by today’s delinquency and foreclosure data would be helped by this agreement proves that in no uncertain terms.