Fox News Channel "Your World" - Transcript

Interview

MR. CAVUTO: Democrats today quick to blame President Bush for the financial mess on Wall Street. With us now, Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks, a member of the House Financial Services Committee.

So this is all the president's fault, Congressman?

REP. MEEKS: Well, what it is is I think the last two years at least, when Democrats were in control, we were saying that there's a problem in the economy. And the response that we get back on a consistent basis is that the market will adjust itself, that everything is okay, don't worry about it.

And you know, the president has the responsibility of having the appropriate agencies who are overseeing, whether it's the feds or someone to look at the stability in the market. That did not take place.

MR. CAVUTO: Well, actually, Congressman -- no, actually, Congressman, this administration years ago, prior to two years ago, had been talking about concerns it had about the free lending policies of Freddie and Fannie, and they were stymied. Now, you're quite correct to say that Democrats and Republicans stymied it. But it's not as if to say that they, too, weren't aware of potential problems, right?

REP. MEEKS: Well, you know, if you would have just come to a few of the hearings that we have of Financial Services on the committee where we had administration officials before us and we would talk, whether it was Chairman Bernanke or even before him Chairman Greenspan, and we would ask questions about the stability of the economy, where we were, where we were headed. And the answer that we received back would be that the market was going to fix itself, that, you know, don't be concerned, and everything would be all right.

And now we find ourselves in the situation that we are in. Now we have to figure out, where do we go from here? How do we fix it so that we can make sure we have the confidence of the American people?

MR. CAVUTO: You know, for the life of me -- I watched some of those hearings -- I don't remember you or any of your colleagues saying, we've got problems with Freddie and Fannie. I don't remember you or any of your colleagues saying, these banks could go bust. I don't remember you or any of your colleagues saying that all these brokers are on a house of cards here.

What I'm saying, sir, is that -- all I'm saying, sir, is that if you're pleading ignorance here, if that is your excuse that it's all the president's fault, the White House fault, and you're pleading ignorance, that's a hell of a defense.

REP. MEEKS: If you recall during even with Fannie Mae, there was a shift in leadership because there was problems there. And we looked at it at that time. And we said that there had to be change, there should be and there was the change to look at how Fannie was doing. You know, people were getting money, executives were making money. And it seemed as though something was going wrong. And we all talked about --

MR. CAVUTO: No, no, no. I remember you yourself and your committee was talking about the idea to aggressively push lending to minorities and those who normally wouldn't get loans. No, no, seriously. The goal was commendable. You wanted to expand lending. But in the process, you expanded it to people who shouldn't have gotten loans, right?

All I'm saying, Congressman, will you admit there is enough blame to go around?

REP. MEEKS: The key was that we did not want Fannie Mae to lose its focus on what we believed its mission should be, and that's put more Americans into homes, to make sure there was money that was available. However, what Fannie Mae and what other lending institutions and the markets, you know, what they have to do -- and we believe now we may have to have another regulator, whether it's the Fed or a new regulator to take place is to look at whether or not these loans or the money is credible, whether it is something that should be.

I mean, we never said that Fannie Mae or anyone should not look at someone for their credit worthiness, not look to see whether or not they were making the money that they needed to qualify for these loans.

MR. CAVUTO: Didn't you have oversight, though, of those institutions?

REP. MEEKS: We have oversight. We bring individuals in to talk to those who run those regulations.

MR. CAVUTO: So you should know what the hecks going on. What you're doing is you're casting blame on some others. And you're right, maybe they're part of the blame. But you know, Congressman, you ought to look in the mirror. You're part of the problem, too.

REP. MEEKS: You know what? You know what? When you're the president of the United States, you know --

MR. CAVUTO: You're responsible, I guess, for everything -- for everything.

REP. MEEKS: The buck stops here. When you're the boss, the buck stops here.

MR. CAVUTO: Well, you know, the buck might stop with him, Congressman, but it has a funny way of passing through you.

REP. MEEKS: The buck stops there. You know, what should have happened at that particular time, in my estimation, we should have found ways to work together. And that's what needs to take place in Washington as opposed to fighting one another and not listening to one another. We should have -- and I'm hoping that we'll be able to do that in the future and have a president that we can work and we'll work together collectively to get things done for the American people.

MR. CAVUTO: Congressman, thank you very much.

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