Nationwide Mortgage Fraud Coordinator Act of 2008

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 6853, the Nationwide Mortgage Fraud Task Force Act of 2008. I appreciate the willingness of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to address some concerns that we had with the bill.

However, I understand that despite improvements to the bill, there was a rush to bring it to the floor. The Judiciary Committee held no hearings or markups on the bill. At a minimum, the committee could have sought the input of FBI Director Mueller when he appeared before our committee last Tuesday. Unfortunately, however, we were not aware of the majority desire to move this legislation at that time.

The subprime mortgage crisis has taken a toll on millions of Americans across the country. Inflated housing prices, combined with fluctuating mortgage interest rates, have left many homeowners struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments or, worse, facing foreclosure on their homes.

Many factors have contributed to this crisis, including predatory lending by corrupt lenders, mortgage fraud and even foreclosure fraud. Estimated losses for mortgage fraud are between 4 and 6 billion dollars, with $813 million in losses in fiscal year 2007 alone.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the western region of the United States led the Nation with 37 percent of mortgage fraud- related reports filed during fiscal year 2007. States with the most significant mortgage fraud problems in 2008 include Florida, Nevada, Michigan, California, Utah, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, New York and Minnesota. Other States significantly affected by mortgage fraud included Arizona, Maryland, Utah, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Clearly this is a nationwide problem. The FBI has been actively investigating mortgage fraud since 1999. In his testimony before our Judiciary Committee last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller informed us that 42 FBI mortgage fraud task forces are currently handling 1,400 mortgage fraud investigations across the country. This includes 24 investigations into large-scale corporate fraud. The FBI's Operation Malicious Mortgage is an immense multiagency operation focused primarily on three types of mortgage fraud, lending fraud, foreclosure rescue schemes and mortgage-related bankruptcy schemes.

As of June, this operation has nabbed more than 400 defendants, 173 convictions, and 81 sentencings in crimes accounting for more than $1 billion in estimated losses. Just last month, in my home State of North Carolina, four defendants were indicted in Federal court for using various fraud schemes, including inflated property values and false representations to lenders to secure financing for the purchase of property and mobile homes.

H.R. 6853 lends additional support to the FBI for its mortgage fraud investigations and provides additional tools to State and local law enforcement. The bill designates the chief of the FBI's Financial Crimes Section as the nationwide mortgage fraud coordinator and directs her to oversee all mortgage fraud investigations, provide additional training to State and local law enforcement, and collect and report annual mortgage fraud data to the Congress.

Again, I thank my colleagues for amending the bill to address our objections and concerns, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun).

I have no more speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I want to thank the gentlewoman from the great State of Ohio for yielding to me and my good friend from North Carolina. Both of their explanations about H.R. 6853 are very accurate of the situation.

Mr. Speaker, we have a number of Americans that are trying to get homes or tried to get homes, and we have individuals that are preying upon them. This is really one of the most egregious white-collar crimes that are out there right now.

With this bill, it will give the FBI some direction in working with local law enforcement to bring about the kind of coordination we need in our country to be able to assist Americans or be able to save Americans from falling victim to mortgage fraud.

In my community alone, in Miami-Dade County, there was a task force set up. Just last year, they were able to not only arrest 71 individuals, but they were able to generate more cases because of the coordination they have and expertise that they have, but that's a metropolitan city. With this legislation, it will bring about the coordination of smaller police departments and also prosecutor offices that will be able to move faster on these mortgage crimes.

Many of the Members have been given the statistics that have plagued our country thus far, but this legislation is very, very urgent. Right now, we are facing a crisis on Wall Street, but we have a number of Americans that are facing a crisis because they have been had by those that are out there preying upon them and that are coordinating themselves in a more detailed way than law enforcement at

this time. But we are catching up and legislation, like the legislation that is before us, will allow us to do so.

I want to commend the FBI for what they have been able to do thus far. With this legislation, it will give even more focus to mortgage fraud.

Also, I just want to state for the record that we have been in communication with the FBI. They are fully aware of this. I think the reason why we have an amendment, this bill has been amended, is the fact that the coordinator will serve better than just an overall task force that will create regional task forces, that will then come back to the Congress and give us some legislative ideas on how we can even pinpoint more efforts towards this particular crime.

As you know, many, many Americans, many Americans have saved up their money to be able to purchase their first home. Many of these individuals that are out there coordinating to take their money, to take their life savings, to be able to take every little thing that they have punched in for and punched out for many, many years, some of them have taken the money their loved ones left for them once they have passed on to be able to buy that first home, and for them to be taken advantage of is one of the bad things that we look at in our society.

We do know we have undesirables out there that are willing to prey on hardworking Americans. This legislation is urgent. It's right now for the moment.

I am glad we are on the floor. I want to thank the chairman of the committee, and, also, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, for working to push this legislation to passage here in the House and hopefully through the Senate and on to the President of the United States, so that we don't have to continue to see the number of victims, especially seniors and especially first-time home buyers, fall victim to these individuals that are out there.

I ask for the Members to please support H.R. 6853, the legislation that would create a nationwide mortgage coordinator in the FBI.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6853) to establish in the Federal Bureau of Investigation the Nationwide Mortgage Fraud Task Force to address mortgage fraud in the United States, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H.R. 6853, as amended, the Nationwide Mortgage Fraud Task Force Act, was introduced by Congressman Meek from Florida. H.R. 6853 directs the Federal Bureau of Investigation to designate a high-level official to coordinate mortgage fraud investigations.

Mortgage fraud is one of the fastest-growing white-collar crimes in the United States. The FBI estimates that the number of cases grew from approximately 17,000 in 2004 to 46,000 in 2007.

The losses from these crimes amount to billions of dollars spread among the financial institutions that have been struggling in the wake of the collapse of the real estate market.

Beyond the direct harm to the defrauded lender, this crime has far wider ripple effects in our neighborhoods and in our national economy.

In our neighborhoods, mortgage fraud has resulted in abandoned houses that cannot be easily resold because they are now owned by a bank and tied up in litigation. These houses often sit empty, deteriorating and becoming overgrown with weeds, an invitation to burglars or other criminal elements, and a blight on the entire neighborhood. In our economy, mortgage fraud has exacerbated the subprime loan crisis that is now having wide-spread effects on the entire financial system.

Mortgage fraud can take many forms and may involve dishonest borrowers, appraisers, settlement agents, loan officers, brokers or other persons, including phony straw purchasers under the direction of others. These can be difficult, time consuming and resource-intensive cases to investigate and prosecute. This bill will help the FBI meet these challenges by directing it to appoint a nationwide mortgage fraud coordinator to coordinate the FBI's efforts.

The coordinator would supervise regional task forces, coordinate investigations and facilitate appropriate training and information sharing. They would also prepare reports to assist Congress in undertaking any additional legislative response as may be warranted.

This is an important bill that addresses an important issue facing our communities and our families. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this time it's my honor to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Florida, the sponsor of this bill, Mr. Meek.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how many more speakers the gentleman from North Carolina has.

I thank the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6853 is an important bill that addresses a large problem that is facing our communities and families. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that people who commit fraud should be held responsible at the highest degree. I think the greatest form of fraud that we have in America and has been part of the problem that has created this financial crisis is an act passed by Congress called the Community Development Act. This has created a system that people are fraudulently giving mortgages, but it has also created a system where groups, community development organizations such as Acorn are holding financial institutions hostage. They use threats, extortion and bribes to try to get these financial institutions to give loans to people who can't pay, and it has created a system in America that has caused a meltdown in our whole financial system.

If we are going to start dealing with fraud in America, we need to start dealing with the greatest source of fraud, and the Community Development Act is one of those. We need to repeal the Community Development Act. We need to stop Acorn and other types of organizations like this from threatening our financial institutions. We need to put America back on a strong financial basis. Only by repealing the Community Development Act will we do so. We have to find solutions. We can't just play around the edges as we are doing now.

We will be voting on a bill very shortly to try to bail out financial institutions in America. I am very skeptical of the bill, frankly. But we do know that there are some very inherent problems in bills that were passed by this House as well as the Senate and put into law.

We need to repeal the Community Development Act as well as other acts such as that which have created this house of cards financially that is collapsing around our ears.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, due to important business in my district, I was unable to be in Washington, DC, on September 22 and the morning of September 23.

Had I been present, I would have cast the following votes:

Monday, September 23, 2008--

Yes, H.R. 6685--To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide an annual grant to facilitate an iron working training program for Native Americans (Rep. Lynch--Natural Resources).

Yes, H.R. 1907--Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program Act (Rep. Saxton--Natural Resources).

Yes, H.R. 6853--Nationwide Mortgage Fraud Task Force Act of 2008 (Rep. Meek--Judiciary).

Tuesday, September 23, 2008--

Yes, Motion on Ordering the Previous Question on the Rule for H.R. 5244--The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008 (H. Res. 1476).

Yes, H. Res. 1476--Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 5244--The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008.

Yes, S.J. Res. 45--Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (Sen. Levin--Judiciary) Suspension bill.