Mortgage Reform & Anti-Predatory Lending Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, yesterday in the Rules Committee I offered two amendments to this legislation. My first amendment asked for the courts to limit fees for attorneys filing lawsuits created by this legislation to reasonable levels to ensure that real victims of predatory lending, not trial lawyers, are fairly compensated for wrongdoing.

Unsurprisingly, this amendment was rejected by the committee Democrats on a party-line vote of 9-4. In rejecting this amendment, my Democrat colleagues chose to put trial lawyer fees over victims' compensation in cases where homeowners have been defrauded.

My second amendment would require that ACORN meet the same transparency and reporting requirements that Democrats demanded from any financial institutions receiving TARP funds. My amendment would have ensured accountability and transparency for any taxpayer funds distributed as a result of this legislation. I will repeat that: my amendment would have ensured accountability and transparency for any taxpayer funds distributed as a result of this legislation, just like TARP funding that we have already passed in this body. But, once again, my colleagues in the Rules Committee decided to vote against this and in favor of special interests, and the amendment failed.

Madam Speaker, the main component of this amendment really was not received because it singled out ACORN as a group. And I note that it has a well-documented history of deceit and fraud, which, just again this week, ACORN has been accused in 26 counts of breaking the law in the State of Nevada, and today, seven more counts brought against them by a Democratic prosecutor in Pennsylvania.

So to answer this criticism, I am offering this motion to recommit to extend transparency and good government provisions from my original amendment to any group that is receiving government grants for legal or housing counseling.

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