Keith Ellison

Mr. ELLISON

Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of long overdue legislation to crack down on predatory mortgage lending. This week the House will consider legislation to curb abusive and predatory lending, a major factor in the Nation's highest home foreclosure rate in 25 years and the precursor to the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2009 prohibits lenders from steering borrowers to higher-cost loans and protects tenants who rent homes that go into foreclosure. Mr. Speaker, the situation we find ourselves in did not happen overnight, but there is a new day dawning in America with this new President and this new Congress. By passing this legislation, we will mark one more step toward restoring economic prosperity to all Americans by protecting consumers, as we did last week with the credit card bill, and from the many vile and unscrupulous practices that have directly contributed to the mortgage crisis.

Mr. ELLISON

Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to be removed as a cosponsor from H.R. 1214.

Mr. ELLISON

Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, I am here tonight representing the Progressive Caucus with the progressive message. I am hoping I can get the assistance of some of our very able pages who are seated in the back to grab my boards and my setup materials to help me along the way tonight. But the main idea is that the Progressive Caucus offers a progressive message, Madam Speaker, every single week, and this week, tonight, we are very, very pleased to be able to talk to the American people about the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights. Everybody knows for the last several years that our economy has not had equal and open access to everybody. American people are struggling hard, with flat wages on average for the last number of several years, and we have seen people's pay remain flat as other costs increase, such as health care costs, higher premiums, higher copays. We have seen these kind of things the American worker has been suffering with, and it has been tough out there for everybody. And what happened with the collection of higher costs and higher expenditures and flat pay is that Americans began to rely more and more on debt to meet their basic expenses. We are not talking about living extravagantly. We are talking about the basics. We are talking about a home that you can live in, raise your family in. We are talking about trying to move into a decent school district. We are talking about trying to have a house that is large enough for your family to live in, things like that. So at this point we are here tonight to talk about a triumph that the American people have had tonight with the passage of the American Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights. So let me just get started. I want to thank our pages. We can't do anything without them. They are very sharp, able young people. I would recommend to any young person that they look into becoming a page. I want to thank them. But I want to start off by talking about tonight, and this is our progressive message and this is what we do every week as we bring a progressive vision to the American people, the progressive message, that is what I am talking about tonight, and this is on behalf of the Progressive Caucus. For people who are interested, we urge you to check out our e-mail address. Send us some information. We want to hear from you, the Congressional Progressive Caucus. So, again, tonight we want to talk about the importance of subprime lending, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, debt in the American economy. Americans are having flat wages, increasing costs of all kinds, and people needed somewhere to go. Where did they go? They went to debt. They went to credit card companies. They went into the equity in their homes, as they would take out home equity loans or refinances, things like that. What did people do to make the ends meet as they needed to make purchases they simply couldn't afford because of the flat wages that they suffered through? They did other things, like sometimes go to payday lenders, and even sometimes had to resort to other sorts of means. But what ended up happening is that, as Americans began to rely more on debt, they began to experience negative savings rates. Negative savings rates. What does this mean? This means that if you get paid every 2 weeks, on the second week, sometime around Wednesday or Thursday, you have more week left but you have no more paycheck left. That is what that meant. And that meant that you had to do something. Cutting back is what people did. Of course they cut back. But when you have food to pay for, mortgages to pay, things like that, you have got to do something, and people relied on debt. In 2005 and 2006, we had a negative 1.5 percent savings rate, a negative 2 percent. I remember when I first got elected in 2006 asking one of our more conservative testifiers at a committee hearing what he thought about our negative savings rate in America. He said, ``Don't worry about negative savings rates. We have got to recalculate what we mean by savings. Equity in your home, for example, is savings.'' Well, we now know, looking back from 2009, what that meant. But I want you to know that even though the American people have suffered through these financial difficulties, even though we had to rely on debt, the American people made a decision that was in their best interests and decided, you know, we don't have good policy for our country. We need better financial policy that is more responsive to the needs of consumers. We need better fiscal policy that really invests in our infrastructure, puts money into people's pockets, increases jobs and spurs demand. And this Congress and the 110th Congress, starting in the 110th Congress and in the 111th Congress, has done this. Now, I don't like partisan politics, but I do believe in the truth, and I just want to point out that these difficulties that the American public has been going through, going into debt, taking on loan products that are difficult to afford, the American public really didn't want to get into this. But look how things changed, given the changing political reality. This chart entitled ``Subprime Lending,'' Republicans controlled Congress during all this period, 1996 right up to 2005. All this area, Republicans are in control of Congress. But in the shaded area, they are in control of the White House, too. Also on this chart you see subprime mortgages starting at $100,000 up to $700,000, and you see time on the bottom axis. And what is this line doing? It is going up. You see during Republican control, when we had no regulation, when we had a nonresponsive Congress, when we had a Congress not listening to the American people, you saw subprime mortgages go up. But we began to fix this. We began to work on this. We began to act quickly. And today is an example of what I am talking about, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, which I hope to talk about in a moment. But during these years when the Republicans had both the White House and the Congress, this shaded portion, what happened to subprime loans? They just kept going through the roof. As a matter of fact, since the Democrats got in control, we have begun to see a lot of action. But during the Republican-controlled period that I mentioned, 1995 to 2006, the Republicans, when they had the White House and the Congress, put out zero, passed zero in the area of financial regulation. The Republican scorecard, GSE, that means government sponsored enterprise, and subprime legislation, nothing. They did nothing. Now, people don't like this sometimes because it is like, well, you are being partisan. I am not trying to be partisan, I am just trying to be honest. But what has happened recently, starting in 2006? What took place then? Well, Democrats have passed bill after bill addressing the financial difficulties Americans are facing. Democrats today passed a Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights. But this bill was passed in 2007 once the Democrats got ahold of the Congress. This bill we passed today is the second time we passed it. We are hoping that the other body, the folks down the hall, will pass a bill that matches up with it so the President can sign it. The President has made it clear he wants to sign a bill to help consumers with credit cards. But today we passed a bill again. I want to talk to folks about what some of the basic issues were and what some of the basic features of the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights we passed today are, keeping in mind the fact that the Republicans didn't pass anything when they had the White House and the Congress and during their tenure subprime loans were just going through the roof. Here is what happened when you got Democrats in here. The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights ends unfair arbitrary interest rate increases. This legislation prevents credit card companies from unfairly increasing interest rates on existing card balances. Retroactive increases are permitted only if a cardholder is more than 30 days late, if a promotional rate expires, if the rate adjusts as part of a variable rate, or if the cardholder fails to comply with a workout agreement. This legislation, which ends unfair and arbitrary rate increases, is good for the American consumer. This legislation lets consumers set hard credit limits and stops excessive over-the-limit fees. This bill does that by the following way: It requires companies to let consumers set their own fixed credit limit that cannot be exceeded. So people think, well, look, you know, if I have a $500 limit on this card, I don't want to spend more than that. This is my way of controlling my spending. Well, what some credit card companies do is let you still spend that $501, but then they charge you $35 for the privilege, ``privilege'' in quotes, that is. You didn't want that. That is not what you paid for. Now you can say $500, that is it. This bill lets consumers set hard limits and stop over-the-limit fees by preventing companies from charging over-the-limit fees when the cardholder has set a limit or when the preauthorized credit hold pushes the consumer over the limit. What will happen? The credit charge is denied and you just can't buy that purchase. But maybe consumers want that so they can control their spending, or if they let their child use the card, they want to do that. So now consumers will be able to do this, if we can get this through the Senate and the President signs it. This bill ends unfair penalties for cardholders who pay on time. It ends the unfair practice known as double-cycle billing. What is this? What is double-cycle billing? It is when card companies want to charge interest on a debt consumers have already paid on time. So let's say you paid your debt on time, but what they want to do is charge you interest on that debt that you paid on time. Is that fair? No. If a cardholder pays a bill on time in full, this bill that we passed today prevents card companies from piling additional fees on balances consisting only of leftover interest. And this bill prohibits card companies from charging a fee when customers pay their bill. So there is this thing the credit card companies have called ``pay to pay.'' Not pay to play, but pay to pay, meaning if you want to pay, you got to pay in order to pay. That doesn't seem like it makes much sense. If you are paying your bill, they ought to take the money for the bill you paid. This Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights which we just passed, which addresses the credit card situation that people are facing, requires a fair allocation of consumer payments. This is an important thing, because it is through this clever little practice that a lot of Americans see their pockets get holes in them and their money run out. What this means is many companies credit payments to a cardholder's lowest interest rate balances first. Now, why does that matter? Because if you incur a debt, and part of that debt you're paying 10 percent on, and then you make another charge, and now the interest rate has increased and you're paying 20 percent on that other part of the debt, so now you've got two charges, one for 110 percent, another for 120 percent. They won't let you pay off the higher interest rate amount first. They pay off the lower interest amount first. Why? Because the higher interest rate for the longer period of time gets them more money, loses you more money. So, companies credit payments to a cardholder's lowest interest rate balances first, regardless of when you incurred the debt, making it impossible for a consumer to pay off the higher rate debt. The bill bans this practice. This bill we passed today bans this and requiring payments made in excess of the minimum to be allocated proportionally to the balance with the highest interest rate. So now you can get out of debt. Now, if you charge something on your credit card, you're not able to pay it off at the end of the month, you don't end up drowning in a sea of debt. You can get out of this muck, out of the mire. The credit cardholders' bill of rights protects credit cardholders from due-date gimmicks. This bill requires credit card companies to mail billing statements 21 calendar days before the due date, and to credit as on time payments made before 5 p.m. on the day due. This makes a big difference because you might pay your bill on time, but they say, nope, you didn't pay on time. Why? Because we played some shenanigans with the due date. This bill extends the due date to the next business day for mailed payments when the due date falls on a day the card company does not accept or receive mail; that's Sunday and holidays. Very good for consumers. This bill prevents companies from using misleading terms and damaging consumer credit ratings. The bill establishes standard definitions for terms like ``fixed rate'' or ``prime rate'' so companies can't mislead or trick consumers by marketing and advertising. You know, the 9.9 fixed rate, until it's not fixed. And when is it not fixed? Well, when they say it's not fixed. It's fixed right up until it isn't fixed anymore. When is that? Whenever we say it is. This kind of practice is not fair and is going to be stopped by this bill. This bill protects vulnerable consumers from high-fee subprime credit cards. It prohibits issuers of subprime cards where the total yearly fixed fee exceeds 25 percent from charging those fees to the card itself. These cards are generally targeted to low-income consumers. So just think about it, somebody says come get a credit card. You're low- income, and they say, there's going to be a fee for having this card. So you say, okay, well, whatever. I don't know because the fine print has me all confused and I don't really get it. I just think I'm going to get a credit card. So then what happens is you get the card. You sign on the dotted line; and before you even use the card for the first time, you find that there's already $400 worth of charges on the card. How could that be? You've never really used it before. Well, the fee that they're charging you has been already put on the card before you ever used it. So if you cancel the card, you still owe them. And the interest rate just keeps on climbing. This bill stops that. Now, I tell folks all the time that I knew that things were bad when my 19-year-old son, who wasn't working, kept getting credit card solicitations in the mail. And I thought that was a problem. But I knew we had a real problem when my 13-year-old son started getting credit card solicitations in the mail. Yes, if you're watching this broadcast, you may have seen a 13- or 12-year-old get a credit card solicitation. How does this happen? Well, because you sign up for Sports Illustrated or some magazine, your name gets on the list, and then they start doing it to you. Now, this bill says that it prohibits card companies from knowingly issuing cards to individuals under 18 who are not emancipated. Now, the fact is, these are the basics of this credit card bill, this credit cardholders' bill of rights. It's responsive government in action. It's responsive government in action. And I'm very proud to report that even though, when the Republicans were in charge of both the White House and Congress--I'm not happy to report this part--but even though they passed no legislation to protect consumers from subprime lending, and even though, during their tenure, which is from this period, 2001 and right up to the end of 2005, they controlled both the White House and Congress, they didn't pass anything. Subprime loans just went through the roof. Even though those two things are true, there's a lot of Republicans who did the right thing today, and I want to commend them. I can tell you that in the Financial Services Committee, we had nine Republicans vote for the credit cardholders' bill of rights. And today you only had 70 Members of Congress who voted ``no.'' And therefore, you had over 130-some Republicans voted for this bill. They are to be commended. They put the interests of their constituents over that of certain credit card companies, and they deserve the applause and my personal thanks. Let me say that it's time to rebuild our economy in a way that's consistent with our values, the economy that's built on a strong foundation, not financial schemes, overheated housing markets and maxed-out credit cards. We want to build an economy that offers prosperity in the long run, not just the short quarter. American families face the reality of this financial crisis every day. We think the lending industry has continuously found new ways to make profits out of old regulations and has faced little oversight and needs a reality check. As I say this, I want to commend that there are a number of good lenders out there, and credit cards are not bad in and of themselves. But there have been some bad practices. This credit cardholder's bill of rights allows for a basic floor, so that good credit card companies, watching bad credit card companies make a lot of money off those abusive practices, are not tempted to engage in those practices themselves. We're setting a floor. That's what it means to be a Member of Congress, to try to set a floor for our free market system to operate properly. During the reign of the Bush administration, Republicans presided over a systematic weakening of financial regulations. And along with this deregulation, we saw the dramatic rise in subprime loans and consumer credit without increasing consumer protections. I already mentioned this very troubling statistic, and I urge people to take a close look at it and examine it because it tells a very, very disturbing story. Some credit card companies, not all, have long engaged in deceptive practices that harm consumers, and real reform is long overdue, which is why we're so happy to have passed the credit cardholders' bill of rights today. With credit card debt in the United States reaching record heights, nearly a trillion, that's trillion, with a T, and almost half of all American families carry an average balance of about $7,300 in 2007, this bill could not come soon enough. This bill came right on time. In 2008, credit card issuers imposed $19 billion in penalty fees on families with credit cards. In fact, they weren't upset with you when you didn't pay off that balance every month. They were quite pleased because they could hit you with a big old fee and you would have to pay a lot of money, which, if you're relying on a credit card, you might not have readily available. This year, credit card companies will break all previous records for late fees, over-the-limit charges and other penalties, resulting in more than $20.5 billion. That's a lot of money. And this is just--I'm not talking about their profits. I'm talking about their profits generated from over-the-limit charges and penalties and fees; not all profits, just penalty-based profits. This legislation, which we passed today, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, would require companies to provided advanced notice of rate increases, while also placing restrictions on the ability of card companies to raise rates retroactively. This legislation, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, is a comprehensive credit card reform package that also incorporates a bill I authored called the Universal Default Prohibition Act of 1990. I was proud to introduce a bill that was a stand-alone bill that had been woven into this larger bill, prohibiting universal default provisions. Some people are lucky enough to not know what universal default is. But what universal default means is that if you have more than one credit card and if you default on one of them, you now get hit with late fees and increased penalties and interest rates on the ones you were on time for, because the credit card company can say you're now a higher risk because of the adverse action on the one card, and so they can hit you on the other cards. Now, a deal ought to be a deal. If you say, I'm going to pay this rate and I'm going to pay on time and on this card, and you don't mess up on that one, they shouldn't be able to get you because of some other problem. I mean, your mortgage doesn't go up because you don't pay your car note on time. I mean, the fact is, your gym fees don't go up because you didn't pay a library book, get a library book back on time. The reality is that this universal default practice is unfair to consumers, and there should not be any adverse action against you unless you default on the card that you defaulted on. So we're now happy that this provision was in the legislation and encourage consumers to rejoice because this important practice is in the bill. This important provision is in the bill. Currently, a credit card company can raise interest rates on a cardholder, even if he or she has never made a late payment to that particular company; and that ain't right. This legislation bans most of the abusive practices, including universal default. I've worked hard to stop this harmful practice in part of my work on consumer justice. I'm proud to say that this landmark bill passed the House today. And even though last year the bill was not taken up by the Senate, we expect the Senate to take swift action, this Congress to enact crucial reforms to protect consumers. We have a President in the White House who's actually concerned about the rights of consumers. And this is a golden opportunity to bring true reform to the credit card industry. Again, this is not an anti-credit card bill. Credit cards help us. They help us rent cars, get hotel rooms, buy expenditures. This is not about being against credit cards. But it is about trying to stop some of the more abusive practices of some credit card companies that hurt American consumers when we can least afford to withstand some of these difficult practices. I want to talk about what some of my colleagues who oppose the bill had to say. Some of them were quite critical of the bill and didn't vote for it. You can hardly believe it. Yes, it's true. Seventy people did not vote for the bill. I guess that's their prerogative. I'm sure that their voters will learn about this. But my point is, I'd like to just talk a little bit about what some of their arguments were. One of the arguments was this: that if we stop these abusive practices, that it will dry up credit for everyone. This is not true. There are 10 big credit card companies, and over half of them don't do universal default. They're profitable. Other practices in the credit card industry are not done throughout the industry, but only certain companies do them. The fact is, that some of these things that have been banned, many of these practices banned in this bill or restricted in this bill have been identified by the Federal Reserve, under a lengthy study, as abusive and deceptive practices. And so, therefore, if they're abusive and deceptive, are some of the critics of the bill saying that we must let the consumer exist at the tender mercies of what are abusive practices or there will be no credit? That simply makes no sense. It's almost like saying that unless you allow a toaster that explodes every second or third time it's used, then nobody will be able to get a toaster because the price of making a safe toaster would make having a toaster for anyone too high. That's just silly, and we should never go for it. We should always stand up against that. I want to say that, as for this bill, the bill that we passed today, I'm proud of this bill. I was honored to vote for it, and I would vote for it again. Let me just talk about a few folks from my district and what they said to me. Kristen from south Minneapolis writes: ``Dear Representative Ellison, I'm writing to you to ask you to support a strong version of the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights. This bill improves important provisions for protecting consumers. The main problem is that H.R. 627--'' that's the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights ``--won't be implemented quickly enough. We need protection from predatory credit card practices now. Predatory credit card practices drain hard-earned money from people like me who cannot afford these tricks and traps any longer. The credit card companies have been targeting me for no reason in the last 2 months. I have a good job and a decent credit score. Recently, I saw my APR go up because the banks are under financial strain. These are the same banks that received billions of dollars in unregulated support from the U.S. taxpayers, and now they're taking it out on us.'' Annette, also from Minneapolis--my town--writes: ``I'm very concerned about rising interest rates by credit card companies. I worry that this will turn out to be the same as banking and the housing crisis.'' Mark from northeast Minneapolis writes: ``We are residents of northeast Minneapolis. Due to our self-discipline, we have a top-tier credit rating. We recently received notification from Capital One that our credit card annual percentage rate would increase from a 9.9 percent fixed rate to a variable rate, which was 17.9 percent as of January 28, 2009. We find this action reprehensible. It is contrary to the needs of taxpayers in this economic climate. We ask that you sponsor legislation which limits and regulates usury practices for all financial institutions.'' I just want to say to Mark from northeast Minneapolis: Did it today, Mark. Thank you. Thank you. Eugene from south Minneapolis writes: ``Would like credit card reform passed immediately. There should be limits set on interest rates in order to help consumers.'' Mr. Stein writes that he has never been late on a payment, but Citibank just raised his rate by 5 percent while they were getting bailout money. John from Minneapolis wonders why his rates on his Capital One card are increasing so much recently: ``They're almost doubling. Please support legislation to stop this type of lending.'' I'm just reading letters from my constituents. They're very concerned about this situation. They wanted somebody to do something about what they were going through in this tough economic climate. So I'm just going to wrap up by saying that we have worked hard. We've gotten a lot of Republican votes on this legislation today. It was a bipartisan bill. I want to commend Democrats and Republicans for passing this bipartisan bill, which was passed with only 70 ``noes'' and 357 ``yeas.'' That means it was bipartisan. That means that both sides saw that this was an important bill to pass. I want to say that I'm proud of groups like ACORN. Yes, I like ACORN. I'm proud of the AFL-CIO, Americans for Fairness in Lending, Capital Progress in Action, the Center for Responsibility, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Demos, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, NAACP, National Association of Consumer Advocates, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, National Consumer Law, National Council of La Raza, National Small Business Association-- let me repeat that one--National Small Business Association, Opportunity Finance Network, Public Citizen, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Service Employees International, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group. They all wrote this really, really nice letter urging us to support this important legislation. These are civil rights groups, small business groups, labor unions-- people of all types--knowing full well that we've got to do something to rebalance the scales in this wonderful country of ours. That's why we have this Congress, so that Representatives can come here and say, We're going to set things right. Now I'm going to take a few more minutes before I wrap up to say that this bill that passed today, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, is really, simply, a bill that signals greater change. In the near future, we will be taking up another important consumer justice piece of legislation. This bill I'm referring to now is a bill that addresses this practice of predatory lending in the mortgage housing sector. This antipredatory lending bill, of which I am also a very proud author, is going to be up in a week from today, Madam Speaker. This bill, which we're going to get the chance to vote on in about a week, is a bill that is a long time in coming, and if we'd have passed a bill like this years ago, as advocates were urging us to do, we may not be in the situation we're in today. I want to say that this important bill is going to be up next Thursday. If people, Madam Speaker, want to weigh in on this bill, they should start doing so now if they have not already done so, because it's coming up soon. We want folks to know that Democrats and some Republicans care about the consumer; we are not going to back down from fighting for the consumer, and we are proud to be able to represent the American consumer. So, with that, Madam Speaker, I'm just going to say it's an honor to come before you and the folks watching. I just want to say, as we begin to wrap up, that the American consumer has been experiencing mounting debt. As we see the average household income, this is a flat line going straight across. Do you see that flat line? It's just going flat. There are a few dips and a few dives and a few blips upwards, but it's a flat line. What has not been flat? Nonrevolving credit card debt has been going down here all the way up here to the 110th. Revolving credit: also setting a trend upward. Home equity loans: going up. Mortgages: going up. The difference between this line and these up here explains why Americans have gotten in such difficult dire straits. Now is the time to start fixing it. We see two things happening that are very important for the American consumer. On the one hand, we see financial regulation. On the other hand, we see the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act put into our economy to reinvest in infrastructure, to invest in innovation, to invest in health care, to invest in a renewable economy so that we can actually increase demand, increase jobs, increase tax revenues, and get ourselves out of the deficit. We see ourselves plugging the holes that these credit card companies and other debt instruments have created for the American consumer. Help is not only on the way; help has arrived. You see responsible legislation coming forward so that the American consumer and the American economy can fly high, once again, as it has in the past. Consumer justice is what we need. Consumer justice is what we're getting. Madam Speaker, it has been an honor to come before you.

Mr. ELLISON

Mr. ELLISON. Well, you know what, I appreciate that, but I am going to toss it back to the gentleman from Massachusetts, who I think is going to toss it to the gentlelady from Wisconsin. I am happy to wait my turn in the line since I was one of the last ones here tonight. But I do appreciate the gentleman from Colorado's comments; I think they were dead on the mark. And I am very happy to be here tonight sticking up for the Democratic record and the leadership of Barney Frank on Financial Services reform.

Mr. ELLISON. Barney Frank with a tremendous intellect, with a tremendous sense of humor, with a bipartisan spirit and an even hand has shepherded great legislation to help stabilize America and begin our ascent once again. I want to say that even on the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, a bill that I am emotionally involved in, I feel so good about, we got nine Republican votes and a bunch of Democratic votes. Look. Even a lot of Republicans know that we have been doing the wrong thing by neglecting regulation. It's time for us to put all this squabbling aside and say no matter what the party is, no matter what party you may belong to, Democrats are just better at running the economy. I like Republicans. Some of my best friends are Republicans. My dad is a Republican. I think they're great. But if you want good regulation that helps the economy grow, you can look at the 110th and 111th Congress for an example of who knows how to do that. It's happened successfully. It will continue to happen. And I bet you when that Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights hits the floor of this House and I bet you when the anti-predatory lending bill hits the floor of this House, we're going to get a bunch of Republican votes because even they know that the Democratic Party is a good financial manager.

Mr. ELLISON. Well, actually, I'd like to address the question that was raised by Congresswoman Gwen Moore from Wisconsin. I'd like to pose a question to her, and this question is going to take a little buildup, so bear with me.

Mr. ELLISON. If the gentleman would yield, I want to ask the gentleman a question. Did the stimulus package also include the Neighborhood Stabilization Act, which is money, passed through the Democratic Congress, that would allow the neighborhoods to get money to help buy up some of these foreclosed properties? Did that happen?

Mr. ELLISON. Now, if you were responsible for deregulating the markets and if you were responsible for unleashing the wildest impulses in human nature--greed among them--and if you presided over a catastrophic increase in the budget deficit as you cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and if you let loose a war in Iraq that should never have been fought, after it all came crashing down, wouldn't you be looking for somebody to blame? Well, you might just blame the people who are the most vulnerable in our economy, and that is what is at the very root of the CRA mess. You can't possibly expect people to accept responsibility. Look, when you look at these crossed lines here, this is when the party opposite ran the whole shooting match. This is when they had the White House and this House and the other body--the Senate. They ran the whole shooting match, and we got a big, fat, enormous, giant goose egg out of it as it relates to any kind of financial regulation. As soon as the 110th Congress broke out and when we finally got a chance to do some regulation, what did we see? Through this House, we passed the shareholder vote on executive pay, the so-called ``Say-on- Pay.'' If you were upset, frustrated, angry or were in any way annoyed by the AIG scandal and by the executive pay or by any of this stuff, you can know and feel good about the fact that it was the Democratic Congress and the Financial Services Committee, under the leadership of Barney Frank, that passed Say-on-Pay, which said, ``You know what? We're going to let those investors have a say-so over these executive pay packages. We're going to do that.'' That was passed in the 110th Congress, but it wasn't made law. It was passed through the 110th Congress. Not only that, we did pass legislation to bring in regulation and oversight to the Office of the Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. OFHEO was moved out, and the Federal Housing Financial Agency was moved in. So, yes, the problems that the gentleman from Massachusetts identified with Fannie and Freddie were there. They did buy too many of these mortgage-backed securities. But what happened in the 110th Congress? We responded. We did something. We did not leave it to go unattended. Not only that, we passed the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights in 2008, and we passed it again, and we're going to pass it again on the House floor tomorrow. I'm so excited about that. Let me just say something about it as we slow down to talk about it. While we were debating the bill on the floor today, we had a good friend of mine speak, a gentleman whom I actually quite enjoy listening to, a gentleman from Texas. He's a fine man, but he's fond of saying, ``Okay. You guys are talking about predatory lending, but what about predatory borrowing?'' You've heard this phrase, right? Well, let's talk about predatory borrowing for a minute. When somebody gets an extra amount of money called a yield spread premium to steer you to a high cost loan and it makes them money to do so, that's how you get people getting into loans they are not supposed to get into. They get into loans because the people they trust, the mortgage originators who they rely on, are incentivized to do so. What are we doing about it in the 111th Congress? We're addressing this practice right now to try to say no, it's your job to look out for the borrower. You have got to look out for the borrower. You can make more money by doing a lot of loans, you can make more money doing bigger loans, but you can't make more money simply by steering somebody to a high-cost loan. That is going on now. We passed the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act in 2008, and we're going to pass it again very soon, and, God willing, it will be law in the very near future. But not only that, the gentleman from Colorado talked about passage of the Neighborhood Stabilization Act. This is a bill that directed the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make loans to qualified States, metropolitan cities and urban areas in accordance with HUD approval grants to carry out eligible housing stimulus activities, which included greenification--is that a word? Greening. Renewable energy. And also buying up houses so that you wouldn't have these vacant, boarded-up places that were an attractive nuisance for everything from arson to young people getting dragged into these places and copper strippers and all the rest. I submit today that the Democratic Congress, since we became the majority, has been actively engaged in financial regulation. We have been actively engaged in trying to look out for the American consumer. We have been trying to bring stability and liquidity to the financial markets. And I will submit that in the 110th Congress and the 111th Congress, the majority has demonstrated--and some Republicans have been smart enough to vote with us--and say yes, America is a free market society. We believe in the generative power of markets. We believe markets should be allowed to run, but we know human nature needs some restraint sometimes, and we need to have some rules to this game, and thank goodness this is happening right now. So look forward to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which put real financial change in, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009, and the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act which was passed in 2007 but hopefully will become law in the weeks to come and which should be on the House floor in the very near future. That's what I call being a good steward, that's what I call being a financial leader, and that's what I call the leadership of Barney Frank from Massachusetts. I am proud to be on the committee.

Mr. ELLISON

Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, don't believe that unless this Congress allows some credit card companies to abuse consumers, that no one will have credit. It is just not true. Don't believe that if we say no to double cycle billing, no to switching due dates around at random and arbitrary times, no to giving credit cards to minors, if we say no to these kind of practices, it will not drive out credit in America. It is nothing but fear-based stuff that will allow credit card companies, that have made record profits, to continue to take advantage of American consumers. The Democrats, and many Republicans as well, are joining together to say we are on the side of the American consumer. Vote no to this bill at your own peril. The fact is that with the confusing disclosures that the gentleman from Texas has accurately said are present, this bill says those things are wrong. We ask everyone to join with us to say the provisions that allow these confusing disclosures should be stopped. We ask everyone in this Chamber to say no to this. The fact is, Mr. Chairman, if we don't do something to protect the American consumer, we are abdicating our responsibility as stewards of this sacred trust of being a Member of Congress. This is the time to do something for the American consumer.

Mr. ELLISON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding. All appropriate thanks being given except for one person who deserves special thanks. I believe Congresswoman Maloney must feel like a mother giving birth. This bill is phenomenal. I am so incredibly proud to be a friend of hers. Let me say that I knew that we had a problem in America when my 19- year-old son, who didn't have a job and was a college student, kept getting solicitations for credit cards; but I was quite convinced we had a real problem when my 13-year-old son, who did nothing more than apply for a Sports Illustrated subscription, started getting credit card solicitations. I hope some people don't have access to credit, namely my 13-year-old son. I hope some people don't get credit cards, people who cannot handle credit. But credit card companies have given credit card solicitations out all over the country to anyone, and so it's no doubt that some people have gotten credit cards who perhaps should not have them. This legislation is about keeping good credit card companies good. Not all credit card companies engage in some of these policies that even the Federal Reserve Bank found were deceptive and abusive. Some credit card companies didn't engage in universal default; some did. This bill sets a basis for an entire industry so that good credit card companies never have to be tempted to engage in some of these nefarious practices just to stay competitive with companies that do. I am happy that at least nine Republicans voted for this bill in committee. They understand the wedding of good policy and good politics. My friends, this bill is popular because it makes sense for the American people. And so, from a partisan standpoint, I hope I do see a bunch of red up there from the other side of the aisle. The fact is that in 2008, credit card issuers imposed $19 billion in penalties and fees on families with credit cards. This year the credit card companies will break all previous records. I am proud to be associated with this legislation.

Mr. ELLISON

Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of a progressive vision for America's energy future and the opportunity to create millions of American jobs for our working families. President Obama and this Congress are taking on our Nation's energy crisis with a plan to create green jobs and build a clean energy economy; a plan that creates 300,000 new jobs by implementing a Renewable Electricity Standard, and another 222,000 new jobs with its high efficiency savings provisions. Mr. Speaker, we have a choice to make in this Congress; we can choose to create millions of new American jobs that cannot be shipped overseas, reduce our dependence on oil from overseas, increase production of cleaner renewable energy sources, crack down on polluters who damage our air and our water quality, and give American entrepreneurs and innovators the tools they need to stay combative in the global economy, or we can do something else. America can become a world leader in the new clean energy economy, or we can continue the failed policies of the last 8 years.

Mr. ELLISON

Mr. ELLISON. That's an excellent word, Congresswoman Woolsey. You again have been a great champion of a progressive message. You have been talking about a progressive promise. You've been talking about a progressive message. You have been lifting up the banner of progressive politics in this Congress, and we all want to thank you for your tremendous leadership, not to mention your 309 consecutive speeches in favor of peace. Tonight we've been talking about American clean energy and jobs. This is the symbol of a windmill. We can harness the wind and the sun. We can harness the natural world to live in harmony with the planet, not simply use it and exploit it like so much of an endless commodity, but to truly use it in a way that will allow humanity to live in harmony with the natural world and to create jobs and to make our needs met. We talked about, tonight, the need for individuals to do things; is that right, Congresswoman Woolsey? Individuals should step forward. We do need to walk, not necessarily ride. We do need to promote transit. We do need to promote smart growth, livable communities. We need to do all these things. We should try to get a hybrid car, or not even take a car. Just walk or use nonmotorized transportation. We should pull out those plugs that we just leave sitting in the wall all day when we're not even at home. But it is also on the responsibility of government to take decisive action, to make the investments that we need in those bike paths, to promote a cap-and-trade system that surely reduces our carbon footprint and takes the proceeds from those programs and puts them back into renewable energy and helps ameliorate the cost to low-income individuals of meeting this important task. We need to do these things. We need to have a bold, committed program which gets the carbon footprint much, much lower so we can live on this planet. But finally, we need to remember that, in honor of Earth Day, that this Earth is something that we come from, not something that we are here to exploit. Even from a religious standpoint, we are the trustees of this Earth and have a responsibility to take good care of it. And I want to commend all those congregations, Congregations Caring for Creation, other groups like that doing good work, citizens out there doing good work, people concerned about the environmental justice aspects of this question of energy policy, making sure that low-income communities, communities of color, are in the middle of this fight for this clean renewable world that we're coming into and are participating fully. Not green for some, green for all, right? And so, with that, we just want to thank everybody. Here's our Web site. We want to know what you think. We care about your opinion. Check back with us next week at the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the progressive message, hear about the progressive promise, and give us your ideas.

Mr. ELLISON. Well, that's very important. And I want to thank you for those observations. The Progressive Caucus needs good ideas, too. We are being fully engaged in this energy debate that's going on. We are not shrinking from this debate at all. And if people want to offer some advice, there is a Web site that we have, and folks can give us their views, cpc.grijalva.gov--Grijalva is the name of our other co-chair-- because we do want to have people say here's what you should do. One of the things that it means to be progressive is to be open- minded and try to gather in ideas from all places, to be grassroots, to gather in views and opinions from multiple sources. We don't claim a monopoly on good ideas, but we do have values that we uphold here of a progressive type. I want to just say, as we prepare to, in the next 5 to 7 minutes, hand it over to our Republican colleagues, that it's important that we do debunk a few myths, though. I mean, I've heard it said that the progressive support of cap-and-trade, isn't that just an energy tax? Well, we believe that it's not. First off, the Democratic plan is to repower America with clean energy and jobs. As for capping global warming pollution, the Democratic plan is simple. It makes polluters pay, and helps green companies prosper so they can hire more workers. It's time that the American solution we put in place to successfully fight acid rain in 1990, after which time electricity rates fell 10 percent and the U.S. economy added 16 million new jobs. It's important to point out that the acid rain solution had bipartisan support and was signed by the first President Bush. It's true also--I mean, another attack item. Won't Democrats' energy tax raise electricity rates even though President Obama said cap-and- trade will make energy prices increase? Saving consumers money is not a tax. Saving business money is not a tax. Sending $400 billion a year abroad, now, that is the kind of tax that we do want to avoid and help the American people not have to pay. The Democratic plan declares energy independence and puts America on a path to economic recovery. President Obama spoke of transitioning to a clean energy economy that will create jobs, make our homes and buildings and vehicles more efficient, and protect consumers. In his inaugural address, he said we will harness the sun and the wind and the soil to fuel our cars and our factories. We believe that this is the right direction. Although the Progressive Caucus will not simply adopt or parrot any policy, we will put forth a progressive policy and argue for those changes as the energy policy moves forward. We will be part of this conversation, fully participating in it, and ask that members of the public and the progressive community stand up and come forward to be part of this important energy policy. So, before we wrap up, I just want to offer our co-chair an opportunity to comment on our subject tonight. And after that we'll conclude.

Mr. ELLISON. If you ride a bike to work, and we promote, as Congress, if we promote nonmotorized transportation, this will reduce our obesity, increase our green and renewable program. Some of these things are things that we think of as a sacrifice but really are not. If we shut off the television, you know, we might talk to each other and get to know each other a little bit better. If we just pull the plugs out when we leave the house, we can get rid of that ghost energy drain that steals energy when we're not even using these appliances. So these are just changes that you're speaking of that will definitely enhance our quality of life. But I want to mention that we have a bill called the American Clean Energy and Security Act which does do some very important things. It creates jobs that cannot be shipped overseas. It reduces our dependence on foreign oil, increases production of clean and renewable energy sources, cracks down on heavy polluters, and gives American entrepreneurs and innovators, as you mentioned your role on the Science Committee, what they need to stay competitive in the global economy. The fact is that this bill, this ACES bill, invests in American jobs, reduces our dependency on foreign oil and does a lot of important things that we need, as Americans. And so I'm thinking that, you know, it's important that citizens, individuals like you and I, do better. But it's also important that the Congress take action. Individual citizens, pull those plugs out, walk, do things, do more walking, riding your bike, doing things like that. But also, we have, as a Congress, a societal responsibility that we cannot just relegate to the individual citizen. In fact, government often will signal better behavior and more green and renewable and Earth-friendly behavior that citizens can partake of. So I yield back to the gentlelady.

Mr. ELLISON. Well, I would point out though that the sacrifices that you are referring to are not always just giving up something. Sometimes these sacrifices involve getting something. For example, let's just say if you were to get out of that habit of driving three blocks to the grocery store, you might view that as a sacrifice, but you will save money on gas and you will reduce your waistline.

Mr. ELLISON. Well, if the gentlelady will yield back, let me say that part of the progressive vision is to implement provisions of a renewable electricity standard which will create over 300,000 jobs, implement an energy efficient resource standard so we can get energy savings to create over 222,000 new jobs by 2020. By cutting waste, we save money. The renewable electricity standard alone will result in nearly $100 billion in savings for consumers and businesses by 2030. Efficiency savings, the energy efficiency resource standard will result in nearly $170 billion in utility bill savings by 2020. Opponents of that change that Americans are demanding are not going to be the ones who are remembered finally by history. The ones who oppose efficiency and renewable energy, these are the same folks who are in danger of directing U.S. energy policy. They have ignored global climate change, as you and I have talked about. They have ignored acidification of the ocean, overheating of our planet. They have widened tax loopholes for polluting industries and they have made minimal advances in new, clean energy techniques. Madam Speaker, the will of the American public is being represented in Congress and the White House now, and we need the American people to continue to demand responsible energy policy, climate change policy that creates jobs and cannot be outsourced. As the gentlelady from California, Lynn Woolsey, was just talking about, somebody will come up with the great ideas to green our world. Will they be here? Only if we make the proper investments. Only if we become innovative and maintain our position as innovator. I yield back to the gentlelady.

Mr. ELLISON. Ninth term, that means 18 years. In all the time you have been here on this committee, have you ever heard any credible scientist say that global warming does not exist or that human beings are not contributing to global warming? Have you ever heard anything like that?

Mr. ELLISON. Yes, you had better believe we heard that one, which resulted in more pollution which taxpayers have to clean up, and no fundamental investment in a green energy economy like the investment we have been talking about, the investment in an Earth Day to commemorate and rededicate our commitment, the investment in our economy over the centuries, as progressive leaders like Lincoln and FDR made those important investments I referred to a moment ago. There has been no investment in a green energy economy, that will lessen our dependence on oil and reduce global climate change, and, perhaps most importantly, create jobs. You know, Earth Day, Earth Day is a wonderful time to have this conversation about American clean energy jobs, because Earth Day is not simply about fighting pollution. It is also about enhancing our natural world and our existence in it. It is about development along the lines that are smart and green, clean and renewable. We can do both. I will say that I do appreciate some of our Republican colleagues, and I respect them all and enjoy them a lot, but I think it is important to point out that their vision was on display on ``Sunday Morning Talk'' when one of the Republican leaders said that he dismissed as ``almost comical'' the idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen and that it is harmful to our environment. The proof and evidence was that, you know, that carbon dioxide must be safe because humans exhale it and cows deposit it. That is not a definition of whether it is a carcinogen or a harmful substance. Of course, we do have a science gap, and we can do an hour on that. But I think it is important to point out that we are not only in commemoration of Earth Day talking about fighting pollution; we are talking about enhancing our world, our green planet, the only one we have, by the way. And, again, as you know very well, the gentlelady from California knows, our Chair of the Progressive Caucus, if we acidify our oceans and if we overheat our planet, the planet will still continue to exist. We just won't be able to live on it. So that is very important to point out. I think the Progressive plan, and I want to hand it back to the gentlelady right now, is to talk about the importance of a progressive vision for energy policy. I would ask the gentlelady from California, do you believe we need a progressive vision for a progressive energy policy?

Mr. ELLISON. I thank the gentlelady for that important recognition. In fact, it is our appreciation and gratitude for this beautiful Earth that we live on that drives our dedication. We are not really here from the Progressive Caucus talking about what we are against. We are talking about what we are for. And we are for a clean Earth, in which everyone can breathe, can drink, can live and enjoy this wonderful planet that we have, and not just human beings, but all creation. I think it is very important that you set us on the right trajectory for that. I think as we are looking back and remembering this 29th anniversary of Earth Day, it is important to remember that the course of action we have been following has not been one that has been helpful. In fact, it has brought us to a very difficult situation. We have seen the energy plan over the last 8 years essentially be made up of tax breaks for oil companies. ``Drill, drill, drill,'' remember that one?

Mr. ELLISON. If the gentlelady will yield for a question, you have a lot of experience in Congress. You have been here for a little while, right?

Mr. ELLISON. Thank you. Let me just say that you are right. And I do want to commend you, I don't know if anyone has a longer running number of 5-minute speeches on any issue than you do, so I am proud to know that the longest-running series of 5-minute speeches is on the subject of peace, is on the subject of Iraq, and is by a dedicated and progressive leader such as yourself. Madam Speaker, we want to welcome folks to The Progressive Message and let people know that they can always plug into the Progressive Caucus. The e-mail address is cpc.grijalva.house.gov where people, I hope, will communicate. It's very important that we stay in touch and that this is The Progressive Message. Tonight, you are right, the subject is clean energy jobs and our Earth. Let's start out with just a few basics. The progressive energy policy, global climate change and green jobs, has to be made up of a few essential components. The fact is that U.S. energy policy is everyone's business. U.S. energy policy touches nearly every aspect of American life, our homes, our natural environment and, most importantly, our economy and the Earth itself. Last year Americans spent $400 billion buying oil outside of the United States. This is a tremendous expenditure on our economy and sends dollars outside of our economy. And that means that last year American families spent about $3,000 apiece on fossil fuels that contribute to the disastrous changes in our global climate. I think it's important to point out that we are here now, we are approaching the first 100 days of the new administration. Haven't been here long, but we have been here strong. There is no doubt that energy policy will be a major component of the next 2 years, and it's critical to point out that the Democratic Caucus and the Progressive Caucus are here to lead the way on this discussion. I would like to stay positive, but we have to make sure that we have a good record, and the record requires that we revisit some of the things that have been proposed over the last 8 years that have not been so good. One, the Republican plan has not been a good plan. This plan, people contend, that efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions are perilous and will cause undue hardship for Americans in the midst of a recession. The fact is if we don't do something about this global crisis, greenhouse gas emissions, we are all going to be in much more trouble than we are right now. Right now, in fact, is a good time to deal with the crisis in our economy. It's a chance to rebuild, it's a chance to strengthen, it's a time to invest in infrastructure. I think, Chairwoman Woolsey, it's just a good time to point out that it was during the Civil War that Abraham Lincoln made the decision we are going to have a railroad span the United States. It was during the 1930s, the Depression, that we saw rural electrification be a major commitment of the United States Government under Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was under Eisenhower, a recession, where we talked about the interstate highway system that we now enjoy today. In fact, at times like this, it's no time to shrink, no time to be afraid, but it's a time to be bold. Let's not go for any naysayers or fearmongers; let's move forward. Is this a time to be bold, is this a time to shrink and be afraid, or is it a time to be bold and grab on to a new energy policy?

Mr. ELLISON. I am here with the Progressive Caucus, that caucus that brings to the people of the United States every week a progressive vision for America. I am very honored to be joined by our Chair tonight, the only one who continues to fight week in week out every day for peace in our world who has the longest running record of 5-minute speeches for peace, Lynn Woolsey. Let me yield to the gentlelady for a welcome this evening.

Mr. ELLISON

Mr. ELLISON. Madam Chair, I rise today in strong support of the Progressive budget, and I want to thank our leadership in the Progressive Caucus for pulling the budget together. Though I do plan on supporting the House Democratic budget resolution, I believe that our Progressive budget differs in two important ways, and that's why I urge my colleagues to support the Progressive budget. First, the Progressive alternative fully funds President Obama's international affairs request--Function 150 account. I believe robust funding for international affairs, which covers funds to combat HIV, tuberculosis and malaria as well as funding to help reconstruction in Afghanistan, is critical to our Nation's public diplomacy. Our country has a unique opportunity to rebuild alliances across the globe, and we need to meet our foreign policy challenges in the 21st century. To accomplish this task, our country and this Congress must demonstrate a strong commitment to funding international aid. Second, the Progressive Caucus budget embraces President Obama's commitment to retire Cold War weapons systems, and the Progressive budget goes further than the House Democratic budget in cutting defense spending. The Progressive budget reduces wasteful spending that, according to the GAO, costs taxpayers $8.7 billion a year. The Progressive Caucus budget also eliminates unnecessary and obsolete Cold War weapons systems, saving taxpayers $60 billion a year. I know my Republican colleagues are in favor of cutting those wasteful programs.

Mr. ELLISON

Mr. ELLISON. In my own city of Minneapolis, the management of the city reached out to the workers and said, if you all want to have a card check in order to get your union recognized, that is the process we will go by. I can list a number of employers who have voluntarily done card check, and it has not harmed these companies. In fact, as you pointed out, Congresswoman, there are a lot of American companies that have very good relationships with their workers that are humming along and making profit right now. So there is no reason to believe that if we make the Employee Free Choice Act law, that it would in any way undermine any productivity. May I ask you another question, if I may?

Mr. ELLISON. And I again want to thank the gentlelady from Maryland, Congresswoman Edwards. You're doing a great job here, a great service getting the word out. And I want to lend my voice and thank you. Again, reminding everybody that we are here on the progressive message. The Progressive Caucus has a vision for America that includes workers' rights, and we're talking about that today. And I just want to say, as I begin to have to wind down, Congresswoman, that I just want to leave with this thought. You know, you and I know that this Congress has been abuzz over the last week, over the whole AIG thing, right? We've been talking about AIG, AIG. And what have we been talking about? These enormous bonuses these folks have been getting. $165 million in retention bonuses to people who work in the unit of AIG that did all these fancy derivatives that kind of led to this tremendous risk to the American economy. But this idea of work, executive pay, Congresswoman, is not a new one. In fact, it was 1991, when I was a brand new lawyer, just got out of law school in 1990, and I read a book called In Search of Excess. And in this book it talked about executive pay, exorbitant executive pay. 1991. I think I was 25 years old at the time. What's my point? My point is, that during the same period of time we've seen flat worker pay. We've seen worker pay stay stagnant. We've seen people's unemployment rise recently, but we've seen the health care plans have higher co pays, more of a premium every month, and we've seen workers really struggling, and we've seen productivity going up. So we see flat worker pay, increasing productivity, meaning workers are making more stuff and doing more services within the same amount of time, and so the reality is, somebody's got to stand up for the American worker. I think it's almost time for us to wrap up. I am going to leave that to you, the Congresswoman from Maryland, who's done such a good job in organizing this special order tonight for the Progressive Caucus.