Heitkamp, Corker to community bankers: Support housing finance reform
April 30, 2014 | 06:22 PM
Two members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee today urged community bankers to support their housing finance reform bill.
In a speech to the Independent Community Bankers Association, which includes many rural banks, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said that if the bankers want a bill to their liking “This train is leaving the station. Don't leave the table.”
The bill will address problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been in receivership since the 2008 finance crisis.
But ICBA’s policy position is that “any reform of the housing finance system must preserve aspects of the current GSE [government-sponsored enterprise] secondary mortgage market structure that have worked well for community banks” and preserve the 30-year fixed rate mortgage.
Heitkamp said she “can’t look taxpayers in the eye” without reform, but that she wants to preserve the 30-year mortgage. “Eventually Fannie and Freddie would have to come out of receivership,” she added.
Heitkamp also told the community bankers that when they go to Capitol Hill, “Don’t just say we hate regulation.” Instead, she said, they should “give real-life stories” of the impact of regulation.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., followed Heitkamp and said “I am a major Heidi Heitkamp fan” and that their friendship is a symbol that Republicans and Democrats in Congress are “not at war.”
Corker told the bankers that Heitkamp, Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb. and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., “are taking care of rural America” on the Banking committee.
Corker also told the community bankers “You don’t take yourselves seriously enough,” and that they have spent too much effort “to make big things happen to the big guys” and then seek exemptions for small banks “so it won’t affect you.”
That strategy doesn’t work, Corker said, because “stuff flows down hill.”
In a speech to the Independent Community Bankers Association, which includes many rural banks, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said that if the bankers want a bill to their liking “This train is leaving the station. Don't leave the table.”
The bill will address problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been in receivership since the 2008 finance crisis.
But ICBA’s policy position is that “any reform of the housing finance system must preserve aspects of the current GSE [government-sponsored enterprise] secondary mortgage market structure that have worked well for community banks” and preserve the 30-year fixed rate mortgage.
Heitkamp said she “can’t look taxpayers in the eye” without reform, but that she wants to preserve the 30-year mortgage. “Eventually Fannie and Freddie would have to come out of receivership,” she added.
Heitkamp also told the community bankers that when they go to Capitol Hill, “Don’t just say we hate regulation.” Instead, she said, they should “give real-life stories” of the impact of regulation.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., followed Heitkamp and said “I am a major Heidi Heitkamp fan” and that their friendship is a symbol that Republicans and Democrats in Congress are “not at war.”
Corker told the bankers that Heitkamp, Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb. and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., “are taking care of rural America” on the Banking committee.
Corker also told the community bankers “You don’t take yourselves seriously enough,” and that they have spent too much effort “to make big things happen to the big guys” and then seek exemptions for small banks “so it won’t affect you.”
That strategy doesn’t work, Corker said, because “stuff flows down hill.”
