Moment of Silence in Remembrance of Members of Armed Forces and their Families

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLISON. Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word.

The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Minnesota is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. ELLISON. Madam Chair, after 4 million foreclosures--and perhaps we're going to reach 7 million foreclosures--$70 million in loss of home value, after massive unemployment, after an enormous financial bailout bill that we had to do to save this economy, it's impossible for me to understand how it is anybody would not want to have a strong consumer protection provision in our law.

How in the world, after the massive recession that we went through, after all the damage that has gone through to hit this economy, which started in the consumer sector, Madam Chair, which started because consumers were taken advantage of with no doc, low doc loans packaged into securities and then hedged by these credit default swaps which Warren Buffet said caused millions in financial destruction, how would we want to undermine consumer protection?

The fact is consumer protection helps to make sure that we have a strong, sound, and safe system. And if it would have been in place, we would not be in this situation now. We are in this situation now for one reason and one reason only. It is the laissez-faire attitude that pervades the opposition to this fair amendment, and it should be passed. The Holt amendment is right.

I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Minnesota is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chair, I would like to point out a few important facts about the for-profit educational sector, and that is that the low-income students make up about half of the enrollment for for-profit colleges and minorities comprise about 37 percent. So this really is a matter of low-income and minority students facing what are high-cost loans for students, and often 90 percent of the money comes from the Federal Government.

Now, as I listen to my friends in the Republican caucus, I would think that they would want the best value for the public dollar. This rule means that some money spent will result in the outcome that is sought in the beginning, which is gainful employment.

Too many of the students who go to these schools are coming out with nothing other than big debt, and no education, no gainful employment at all. And this is a problem. And I'm surprised that we would not say that, look, we are going to make sure that when the Federal dollar is put forward, there will be value coming back for it.

Now, I am no opponent of for-profit colleges. I think ones that are performing well are certainly welcomed in the market and serve a valuable role. But there are bad actors. And I think it's important to point out we have seen this movie before, Mr. Chairman. We have seen it when people said, Look, poor people, low-income people of color need to get mortgages. And, well, you know what? Well, they can get subprime mortgages. Now, not all subprime mortgages were predatory mortgages, but some were. And enough were to be able to take advantage of people on a very severe scale.

This rule, if it goes into effect, if allowed to proceed forward, would make sure that these students and the government get good value for their money, and no for-profit college that is not relying on a business model that bilks the consumer, the student, should object. No college, no for-profit college that relies on a business model that actually is designed to help the students they propose to help should object to saying, Look, we're going to deliver what we say we're going to deliver, which is gainful employment.

This is no friendly thing for the poor and low-income students of color. This is an abuse. Not all for-profit colleges, but some. And the Federal Government has a responsibility to make sure that these students are not taken advantage of.

By the logic of some of the proponents of this amendment, we should say that, look, any loan shark, pawn shop, payday lender, we ought to just thank them because, you know what, they serve the poor. Well, they had better serve the poor in a fair, scrupulous way and not take advantage of people in a circumstance where they are at a disadvantage.

So I urge members to vote this amendment down and to allow the proper rulemaking procedure to go forward.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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