Helping Families Save Their Home At 2009

Floor Speech

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Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Chairman, this is a bad bill, and I would echo the statement of Congressman Louie Gohmert from Texas.

We have community bankers. We have independent bankers. They're good bankers. These are people who understand their communities. They understand their customers. They understand their depositors. They make these discretionary decisions at a community level.

I represent 286 towns in 32 counties in western Iowa. Some of those towns have shriveled up. Some other towns have actually shriveled up and have gone away, but when I look at what's left of the towns that are shrinking, often the last enterprise is the community bank, the independent bank, because they're investing back into the community.

When I watch these communities grow back again--and some of them have grown back again since I've been elected to Congress--it's because there's an investment locally because decisions are made at the discretion of the depositors. They are those who support the board members who hire the loan officers who make these discretionary decisions. They want mortgages. They want to invest in the community. They're invested in the community. This cramdown bill hands it over to an unelected judge.

We had an intense discussion in the Rules Committee last night about what kind of accountability there is for judges. I'd like to hear a list of the names of those judges who have been removed for incompetence, let alone for poor discretion. I'd rather give that discretion to the banker who is accountable to the depositors than to a judge who is not accountable unless Congress happens to find him.

Speaking of accountability, I do rise in frustration that an amendment that I introduced in the Judiciary Committee that succeeded by a vote of 21-3 was taken out of this bill after the fact. Even though it had the support of the chairman and of all but three Democrats and every Republican, when something like that happens out of committee, I have to trust as an elected Member of Congress that there will be a level of respect so that when the committee votes, that's the will of the committee. I would argue that the job is for the Chair or for the Speaker or for whomever it might be to bring out the will of the group.

The CHAIR. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. I yield an additional minute to the gentleman.

Mr. KING of Iowa. The way you find out the will of the group is you have a vote, and there is a full expectation, when an amendment passes in committee, it is part of the bill. That's why we have the markup.

So I had an impromptu colloquy with the chairman, and he said, ``I accept responsibility. I'll find out what happened. I'll report back to you. I'll get back to you right away.''

I don't know the answer to that at this point. I can only draw the conclusion that, since no one knew this happened and since no member of the Judiciary Committee, no Member of Congress has said, ``I'm responsible,'' other than responsible for its happening, I trust it was a staff act that's not been held accountable. Until I get an answer, I'm going to operate under the assumption that no other agreement that's made between gentlemen is going to be valid until we can make this one valid.

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