Bachmann Cautions Against Expanding Community Reinvestment Act
"Expanding without investigating is irresponsible"
Washington, D.C.,
Sep 16, 2009 -
U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (MN-06), member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released the following statement as the Committee considered expanding the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), even after many experts agree that the CRA contributed to the financial collapse last fall:
“At the very least, it seems undeniable that we are putting the cart before the horse. Before we suggest that more entities be subjected to the CRA, which clearly encourages low underwriting standards and risky lending behavior, shouldn’t we consider whether it’s possible to reform the law, to fix its flaws or, as some have suggested, whether Congress should repeal it all together? Shouldn’t we at least fully examine the CRA’s role in the financial crisis?
“Our Committee should be focused on preventing another failure of our financial system and any discussion about the CRA should be to fully determine the role it played in the financial crisis.
“Furthermore, we need to focus on transparency under CRA. Right now, there is simply not enough sunshine in the system. For instance, recent events have ACORN again making unflattering headlines, including 11 more arrests in Florida for voter registration fraud and a series of videos showing ACORN workers engaged in giving individuals advice in evading several laws. Many have raised questions about whether banks have donated large amounts of money to the organization in order to satisfy their CRA requirements. The fact that there is not enough transparency under CRA right now to even answer those questions should raise red flags for us here.
“In light of all of this, to discuss expansion of the Community Reinvestment Act now is irresponsible.”
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