Pelosi Statement on Passage of Anti-Fraud and Financial Crisis Commission Legislation

Pelosi Statement on Passage of Anti-Fraud and Financial Crisis Commission Legislation

Monday, May 18, 2009

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today on the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, which passed the House today by a vote of 338 to 52. This legislation will provide additional tools to law enforcement to pursue and prosecute corporate and mortgage fraud and establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the causes, global and domestic, of the financial and economic crises in the U.S.

â€Å"The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act will restore common sense to our mortgage lending industry and bring the highest standards of accountability and transparency to the use of taxpayer funds, preventing and prosecuting fraud in the use of TARP and economic recovery funds.

â€Å"This bill will also establish a 10-member, congressionally-appointed 'Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission' to examine the causes of the financial and economic crises. While the Commission undertakes its investigation, Chairman Barney Frank and the House Financial Services Committee will continue their ongoing work to reform federal oversight of our financial markets, and to reform lending practices to protect consumers.

â€Å"In addition to the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, Congress is working this week to send President Obama the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act to prevent home foreclosures and the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights to end unfair credit card practices that lock consumers into debt. We are also working to send the President legislation bringing accountability to Pentagon spending with procurement reforms that will save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars by cracking down on waste and cost overruns.

â€Å"With these initiatives, and the major legislation we have already passed, we are making great progress to move America in a New Direction, and starting to make possible a broadly shared and lasting prosperity for all Americans.”