Executive Session

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

CONGRATULATING THE BOSTON RED SOX

Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, before I start, I want to recognize the Boston Red Sox team for an outstanding historic season and to congratulate Red Sox Nation on their third World Series Championship in 10 years. Go Sox.

The Red Sox mean so much to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and to our communities throughout New England, particularly this year. They have been a symbol of Boston's strength and resilience. From their historic one-season turnaround to their win in front of the Fenway faithful for the first time since 1918, to their scruffy beards, this team will be remembered forever for its heart and for its success. Like all of us in Massachusetts, they have shown what it means to be Boston strong.

I also want to congratulate the St. Louis Cardinals on their 97-win season and their extraordinary achievement for winning 4 pennants in 10 years. Really amazing.

I am honored every day to represent the people of Massachusetts and the values we stand for. I am especially proud to congratulate the Red Sox today.

Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of Congressman Mel Watt's nomination to serve as the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

In many areas of Massachusetts and around the country, housing markets have recovered, but in too many other areas the housing market is plagued by underwater mortgages and foreclosures. A wounded housing market continues to drag down our economy and it leaves millions of families struggling to rebuild economic security.

One of the people who can make an important difference in helping the housing market back to full health is the Director of FHFA. The FHFA oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Between them, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back the vast majority of mortgages in the country, which means right now the FHFA has enormous influence over the American housing market.

The FHFA has the tools to help homeowners who continue to struggle following the 2008 financial crisis. It has the tools to help accelerate our economic recovery. For 4 years now, the FHFA has been led by an acting director. The time has come for some permanence and for some certainty. It is time for the FHFA to have a director, and Congressman Mel Watt is the right man for the job.

He has decades of relevant experience. He spent 22 years as a practicing lawyer, working with middle-income and lower income families on real estate closings and other housing issues. He then spent the next 21 years in Congress as a member of the House Financial Services Committee where he dealt firsthand with housing finance as a policymaker.

When it comes to housing, Congressman Watt has seen it all. Congressman Watt has shown good judgment throughout it all. Several years before the housing market collapse in 2008, Congressman Watt introduced the Prohibit Predatory Lending Act in an effort to stop mortgage lenders from taking advantage of homebuyers. The act would have helped Congress address the underlying cause of the financial crisis by making it harder for lenders to push families toward mortgages they could not repay and too often did not understand.

After that crisis hit, Mel built on his earlier legislation to craft laws that reduced risky mortgage lending and gave homeowners additional protection. Congressman Watt has worked hard to level the playing field for consumers. But he is no ideologue. I have worked with him for many years now. I have seen firsthand that he is a thoughtful policymaker. He can see problems coming, and when he does he seeks common ground and works hard to develop real solutions.

As Congress looks at ways to fix Freddie and Fannie to steady the housing market, Congressman Watt's practical approach is exactly what FHFA needs. The people who know him best, the Senators from his home State of North Carolina, the business leaders in his congressional district in Charlotte, support his nomination without reservation.

So what I want to know is this: Why would anyone in Congress try to block Mel from receiving a simple up-or-down vote? Why would they not want strong leadership in an agency that has been thrust into such a critical role in the economy? It does not make sense, not to the people who know Mel and not to the people who want to put this economy back on track.

Mel's work will help restore the housing market, help lift the economy, and most of all, help strengthen America's families.

It is time for obstruction for obstruction's sake to end, and it is time for the Senate to move forward with an up-or-down vote to confirm Congressman Watt so that he can get to work at the FHFA serving the American people.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source