Jeb Hensarling

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5461, the Insurance Capital Standards Clarification Act of 2014, sponsored by our colleague Mr. Barr of Kentucky. This bill is a common sense fix to several problems that have arisen from the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act--problems that are detrimental to our economy and needlessly limit opportunities for our fellow Americans to live better lives. Mr. Speaker, we all know that today 19 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed. No matter how hard many of them try to find work, the jobs just aren't there in this economy because the President's economic policies have failed them. Clearly, job number one for Congress continues to be job creation and economic growth. That's why the House has passed more than 40 bills aimed at creating jobs, many of them I am proud to say originated in the Financial Services Committee, which I chair. These are common sense ideas, many of them bipartisan, aimed at supporting wage earners, strengthening small businesses, and removing Washington's onerous red tape road blocks that stifle growth and kill opportunity. Yet Senate leaders have failed to bring a single one of these jobs bills up for a vote, even though they are supported by both Republicans and Democrats. Before time during this Congress runs out, I once again call on the Senate's leaders to get to work. They can start with H.R. 5461. Both Democrats and Republicans strongly support this bill. Even the Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee--who has announced she will be voting against H.R. 5461--acknowledges in a ``Dear Colleague'' letter circulated to all our offices that the bill offers ``bipartisan, sensible regulatory relief;'' yet still for some reason she will vote against it. Let me briefly describe this bill and why it's needed to help the American people. H.R. 5461 provides the Federal Reserve with the flexibility to set capital standards for insurance companies under its supervision. Because of the onerous Dodd-Frank Act, Washington regulators are imposing one-size-fits-all capital standards designed for banks onto firms that are not banks but insurance companies. Research has shown that applying capital standards that are meant for banks to insurance companies could massively increase costs between $5 billion to $8 billion. This increase in costs will result in higher premiums and reduced benefits for policyholders. Many policies could simply become unavailable to consumers as companies stop offering certain insurance products. H.R. 5461 ensures proper capital standards are applied to insurers under the purview of the Fed and that these institutions can continue serving American consumers. In addition, H.R. 5461 incorporates three other bills that originated in the Financial Services Committee and previously received overwhelming bipartisan support: H.R. 634, the Business Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act; H.R. 3211, the Mortgage Choice Act; and H.R. 4167, the Restoring Proven Financing for American Employees Act. In this time when there seems to be so little that Republicans and Democrats in Washington agree on, I think it's important to note just how much bipartisan support all of these bills earned. H.R. 634 passed the Financial Services Committee 59-0 on May 7, 2013 and then passed the House 411-22 on June 12, 2013. This bipartisan bill exempts manufacturers, ranchers and small companies that buy and sell derivatives to hedge against business risk from burdensome margin and capital requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act. H.R. 3211 passed the committee unanimously by voice vote on May 22 of this year and then passed the House by voice vote on June 9. This bipartisan bill increases access to mortgage credit for low- and middle-income Americans by modifying the definition of ``points and fees'' for the purposes of determining whether a mortgage is eligible for treatment as a ``Qualified Mortgage'' under Dodd-Frank. H.R. 4167 passed the committee 53-3 on March 14, 2014 and then passed the House by voice vote on April 29. This bipartisan bill addresses unintended, harmful economic consequences for collateralized loan obligations caused by the final version of Dodd-Frank's Volcker rule. Mr. Speaker, not a single one of these ideas is divisive. All are bipartisan, and each one offers common sense regulatory relief to our struggling economy. Anyone who tries to claim otherwise is simply misstating the facts because the record is absolutely clear. I urge House passage of this bipartisan bill, including its provisions that were previously and overwhelmingly approved by the House with support from Republicans and Democrats, and I call on Senate leaders to put partisanship aside and to stop their dilatory tactics. The House once again is offering bipartisan solutions to help our economy and create jobs. There's no excuse why the Senate should not do the same.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this bill. Mr. Chairman, regrettably, our Nation is still faced with the weakest, slowest, nonrecovery recovery since the Great Depression. Tens of millions of our fellow countrymen remain unemployed and underemployed. And if you speak to practically any business--large, small, medium--they will tell you that the sheer weight in volume and complexity of regulation--especially Federal regulation--is perhaps the primary reason that they can't expand their business and that they can't create more jobs for those who need them. As one small businessman in my district put it: ``The complexity of all the different rules and regulations that the government imposes is just incomprehensible confusion.'' Mr. Chairman, that is not the way we create jobs in America. Yet Washington continues to drown our small businesses and our job creators in so many regulations and red tape. We have got to change that. The legislation before us, H.R. 4413, contains a number of measures that originated in the Financial Services Committee and have already passed the House with bipartisan support. For example, section 395 of the bill was originally introduced as H.R. 1256, bipartisan legislation sponsored by Mr. Garrett of New Jersey and Mr. Carney of Delaware. It will simplify and rationalize the regulation of derivatives activity that occurs across U.S. and foreign markets today. American companies obviously use derivatives to manage risk and to provide products and services to consumers at competitive prices, yet today they face the troubling prospect of having to comply with conflicting cross-border requirements from two Washington regulators, the CFTC and the SEC. On the one hand, the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a proposed rule that recognizes equivalent derivatives requirements in foreign countries as valid substitutes for U.S. regulation. On the other hand, the CFTC staff outside the formal rulemaking process has issued guidance that treats countries with well-established regulatory systems, including Canada, the U.K., Germany, and Japan, as rogue nations. The CFTC decided all on its own to inappropriately extend U.S. derivatives rules into foreign markets. It is no wonder that the CFTC's irresponsible guidance has been challenged in Federal court and routinely criticized by a number of our U.S. and European regulators. This unapproved guidance will harm U.S. markets. It will harm consumers. It will harm job-seekers. It will harm our economy. It will result in higher costs on everything, from a John Deere tractor for a farmer in east Texas who wants to buy one to a cold six-pack for a worker in a mesquite factory who wants to finally rest after the day's end. It will even impact the price of an airline ticket for a grandmother in Garland as she tries to afford a trip to go visit the grandkids. Mr. Chairman, farmers, workers, grandmothers, and, indeed, all Americans are already paying more for food, for gas, and for everything. Let's not let the CFTC add to their burden. The bill before us today, H.R. 4413, would help solve this case of government overreach by requiring U.S. regulators to issue one--one--clear rule to govern cross-border derivatives activities. Let's bring some common sense back. Let's protect our consumers. Let's get America back to work. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4413.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, Gwen Moffeit has served Henderson County for over thirty-five years--twenty-four of them as County Clerk. She was elected to the position in 1990 as the first Republican candidate to win a county-wide election. During her tenure, she converted the process of recording documents from the traditional hardback books to the new technology of digital imaging. Gwen has had the pleasure of working with many elected officials during her tenure, including five County Judges: Winston Reagan, Tommy Smith, Aubrey Jones, David Holstein, and Richard Sanders. Gwen has been very active in the community and has recently served on the I.T. committee, the Henderson County Elections Committee, the Bail Bond Board, as well as many other county committees throughout the years. She has also been a member of the Athens Kiwanis for over twenty years--serving as secretary for almost ten of those years. She is a member of Lone Star Republican women, Henderson County Republican Women's Club and the Cedar Creek Republican Club. Ms. Moffeit has been married to her high school sweetheart 43 years. They have two daughters: Misty Wilmeth and Amy Cooper, with four grandchildren: grandson Bailey and granddaughters, Allie, Bradie, and Gracelyn. Ms. Moffeit and her husband are longtime members of Leagueville Baptist Church.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, on May 17, 2014 the citizens of Henderson County, Texas will observe the 100th year anniversary of the current county courthouse in Athens, Texas. While Henderson County has had three previous Courthouse buildings, the one that stands today has passed the century mark. Henderson County, established in 1846 by the Texas Legislature, was carved from Nacogdoches and Houston Counties and named for Texas' first Governor, J. Pinckney Henderson. The Henderson County Commissioners Court approved the building of the current courthouse on June 12, 1913. They authorized L.R. Wright & Company to erect the structure for the cost of $113,500. The L.L. Thurmon Architectural firm of Dallas designed the courthouse in the ``Classical Revival'' style, the dominant type of architecture for Texas courthouses in the early 1900s. A marble cornerstone and time capsule on the northeast corner commemorates the structure's construction. In early 1914 the new courthouse opened for operations. The courthouse today stands in the square of Athens, Texas. Its entrances face the four cardinal points of the compass at the intersections of State Highway 19 and 31 and US Highway 175. In the beginning, this building housed county and district offices, auto and property tax offices, and courtrooms. Throughout the years, many improvements were made to the building. Major renovations were completed during the year of 1965 with the addition of an elevator, new windows, and improvements to the stairs. Other renovations were made in 1986. The courthouse today still serves as the heartbeat to the county operations and community events.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor today to recognize Dwayne Garner of Henderson County for his exceptional service to our country. Beginning his service with the Air Force in 1954, Mr. Garner served with distinction, finally earning the rank of Senior Master Sergeant in 1971. Upon completion of twenty years of service with the Air Force, while serving in the Philippines, Mr. Garner was honorably discharged. Soon after, he decided it was time to move back home to Texas with his wife and two young daughters, where he worked as an adult probation officer in Henderson County until his retirement. Coming from a distinguished family of veterans that ``bleeds red, white, and blue,'' Mr. Garner was no exception. During his time with the Air Force, he was awarded several medals, including the Bronze Star, two Commendation medals, and the Presidential Unit Citation. He remains a true patriot, volunteering his time with different military service organizations in East Texas. Humbly, I echo the words of President Ronald Reagan, ``We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.'' And humbly, I offer my sincere gratitude to Mr. Dwayne Garner for his service and acts of bravery that allow us the freedoms we enjoy today.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor today to recognize Yeoman 1st Class Andrea Jean Small for her exceptional service to our country. In April of 1943, at the age of 23, she joined the Navy in lieu of nursing school. Mrs. Small completed her basic training in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Upon completion, she moved to Washington, DC to begin her service. As one of the first WAVES--Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service--Mrs. Small left her childhood home of Peoria, Illinois, was among the first women to serve our country in a military capacity during WWII. Due to the scarcity of manpower and the urgency of protecting our nation, nearly 400,000 women took on new roles in all military branches during the war. At the age of 95, Mrs. Small can still remember many of the experiences she had prior to and during her service in Washington. She can recall hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor just as she was leaving church on that cold December morning, and the funeral procession of Franklin Delano Roosevelt on April 14, 1945. Perhaps the fondest memory was the night she met the man who would later become her husband of 29 years, Yeoman 1st Class Joe Breithaupt, at a Navy USO party. The two were married on July 13, 1945, just three months after they had met. After completion of their service, the two made their home in the Corsicana area, where they raised three sons. Following Joe's death from cancer, Jean later remarried to Mr. Marlyn Small, and they were married for nine years until his passing. Humbly, I echo the words of President Ronald Reagan, ``We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.'' And humbly, I offer my sincere gratitude to Yeoman 1st Class Andrea Jean Small for her service and acts of bravery that allow us the freedoms we enjoy today.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor today to recognize Ed DeLoach, a veteran of the Korean War, for his exceptional service to our country. Beginning his service with the U.S. Navy on April 3, 1951, Mr. DeLoach trained as an Electronic Technician and served aboard two aircraft carriers, the USS Kearsarge and the USS Hancock. While aboard the USS Kearsarge, he was deployed on two combat tours in the Korean War zone in support of air operations over the Korean peninsula. As a member of the crew, he received the National Defense Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the China Service Medal, and the Korean Service Medal with two stars. Subsequently, Mr. DeLoach was transferred to the USS Hancock and supported operations testing an advanced system for launching carrier-based aircraft until he was honorably discharged on March 24, 1955. Humbly, I echo the words of President Ronald Reagan, ``We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.'' And humbly, I offer my sincere gratitude to Mr. Ed DeLoach for his service and acts of bravery that allow us the freedoms we enjoy today.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor today to recognize Battalion Sgt. Major Robert J. Blatnik for his exceptional service to our country. He joined the US Army's 1st Battalion, 26th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, on October 19, 1938, and would remain in this unit for the entirety of his time in the service. He saw combat during WWII in North Africa, Tunisia, Sicily, Germany, and France. On June 6, 1944 he took part in the first wave of the invasion of Normandy at Omaha Beach--Fox Red 1. Mr. Blatnik earned 4 Purple Hearts, the Silver Star, 5 Bronze Stars, and several other medals. Mr. Blatnik remains a true patriot, and last summer, he was among six Normandy vets from Texas selected to go back to the beachhead where so many gave the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of freedom. Humbly, I echo the words of President Ronald Reagan, ``We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.'' And humbly, I offer my sincere gratitude to Battalion Sgt. Major Robert J. Blatnik for his service and acts of bravery that allow us the freedoms we enjoy today.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I really want to thank the vice chairman of our Budget Committee for his leadership in trying to continually protect the working family budget from the onslaught of the Federal budget. I am a little bit in disbelief, Mr. Chairman, from what I hear on the floor. Rarely has there been a more commonsense bill that has come to this floor. It simply says two things. As we make important legislative decisions in this body, we should have more information instead of less, and we should think longer term as opposed to shorter term. Yet it is opposed by our friends on the other side of the aisle. I am somewhat incredulous. I would say, if my Democratic colleagues don't want the information, maybe they don't have to pay attention to the information. I have heard, Well, not all of the information I want is going to come from this particular piece of legislation. I would encourage the distinguished gentleman from Maryland to encourage his staff to provide him then with the information that he wants. What is really important here, Mr. Chairman, is that we understand in an economy in which millions of our fellow countrymen are unemployed or are underemployed how major pieces of legislation will impact the economy and their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations as they lay awake at night, wondering how they are going to make ends meet. I just wonder if one of the reasons that our Democratic colleagues are opposing this bill is that they know the Congressional Budget Office has now told us that ObamaCare is going to cost this economy 2.5 million jobs that otherwise we would have had. What if we had that information before the bill instead of after the bill? Maybe the crown jewel would not have appeared. So maybe they don't want the American people or Members of Congress to have that information, but the American people deserve this information, and we demand it on their behalf. We need to support this commonsense bill.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize the outstanding achievement of the Trinity Valley Community College Lady Cardinals as the 2014 National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) Division I Women's Basketball Champions. This marks the 3rd consecutive NJCAA Championship for the Lady Cardinals, a new NJCAA Division 1 record. In a 65 to 46 victory, the Lady Cardinals closed out their season with a 35-1 record. The success enjoyed by the team is truly remarkable and a testament to the hard work and dedication of its players as well as Head Coach Elena Lovato, Assistant Coaches Gerald Ewing and Spencer Robertson, and Team Manager Scott Pellegrin. Trinity Valley Community College President Dr. Glendon Forgey, faculty, staff, and students are also to be commended for TVCC's success both on the court and in the classroom. In addition to the record breaking team performance of the Lady Cardinals this season, I also want to recognize Adut Bulgak for being named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, and Coach Lovato being named ``Coach of the Tournament.'' Trinity Valley Community College Lady Cardinals include: Adut Bulgak, Roddricka Patton, Shlonte' Allen, Jazmine Spears, Julianne Anchling, Kuaneshia Baker, Deborah Meeks, Sylvia Smith-Gatson, Leashja Grant, Kyhonta Doughty, Autummn Williams, and Dominique Brooks. On behalf of the citizens of Athens and the Fifth District of Texas, I am honored to be able to recognize the Lady Cardinals in the United States House of Representatives.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, our Nation is, tragically, going broke. Our national debt, which has skyrocketed under this President, is clearly, by any measure, on a dangerous and unsustainable path, a path that, if unaltered, will leave our children with less freedom, fewer opportunities, and a lower standard of living. That is beyond unfair. That is immoral. One reason America is going broke is because of poorly designed and costly government-run insurance programs. The National Flood Insurance Program is one such program. Its chief administrator has already testified that ``the NFIP was, by statute and design, not actuarially sound.'' In fact, the program charges only 70 percent of what its administrators believe they actually need. Perhaps that is why the program is currently $24 billion in the red to taxpayers and has no way to ever repay them. The NFIP is not financially sound because pretty much every policyholder receives taxpayer subsidies. Some get explicit subsidies because the law prohibits the program from charging a full and fair rate based upon their calculated actuarial risk. Others receive implicit subsidies because, according to the GAO, the program uses a faulty model that under-measures flood risk. At the end of the day, the program forces roughly 96 percent of all Americans to subsidize the remaining 4 percent, regardless of income or need. That means a single mom in Dallas, where I live, who is working hard as a cashier at the Albertsons grocery store may be forced to subsidize the flood insurance for some millionaire's beachfront vacation home. If that is not the definition of unfair, I don't know what is. To its credit, in 2012, Congress recognized that the government-run flood insurance program was fundamentally broken and unfair. We passed, almost unanimously, the Biggert-Waters Act. It phases out most of the explicit subsidies over the next few years and requires rates to be more closely based on a property's actuarial degree of flood risk. Now, the first premiums under Biggert-Waters are starting to come due. There is sticker shock, some based on fact, some based on fear. Clearly, there are many, many, across our Nation who have been unaware of their taxpayer-funded subsidies. There are some who simply can't afford the new premiums, and others who are now having trouble attempting to sell their homes. This should be addressed by Congress, and that is why, over the last 8 weeks, Chairman Neugebauer and myself have put four different plans on the tables for Members who approached us about making modifications to the Biggert-Waters Act. We agreed to go slower on reforms and to temporarily cap payments as long as the program would eventually require all property owners to pay the fair amount that they owe and, overall, the program would begin to bring in more income so taxpayers could avoid yet another bailout. Regrettably, that is not the approach we are debating today. The House bill before us, although technically PAYGO compliant, would postpone actuarially sound rates for perhaps a generation. It would kill off a key element of risk-based pricing permanently, which is necessary if we are to ever transition to market competition. Finally, it creates brand new subsidies for a program that is already bailout broke. Mr. Speaker, the Senate bill isn't any better. It essentially represents a 4-year freeze that is not PAYGO compliant. My fear is that either bill represents a big step backwards from reform and leaves us just a few hurricanes or a few short years away from the next taxpayer bailout. Either bill will make it incredibly difficult to do what Congress must do, and that is phase out this unneeded, government-run insurance program that fundamentally represents both an unfair and unsustainable middle-income entitlement. I respect my colleagues who have a different view. I respect my leadership for bringing a bill that may not be optimum to the floor. But, Mr. Speaker, if we don't protect taxpayers today, how will we ever reform the gargantuan middle-income entitlements that put us on the precipice of a debt crisis? I, for one, will vote ``no'' on this well-intended but misguided bill.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I find this to be a most curious amendment from the gentlelady from Wisconsin, and we do enjoy her participation on the committee, but it is a curious amendment because if it is accepted, and I believe the House is going to pass it, then it says the House is on record as saying we are going to do something but we just didn't feel really good about it. In other words, her amendment does nothing to the underlying bill except a sentiment that says we shouldn't have passed it in the first place. So it is a curious, curious amendment, Mr. Chairman. I personally, and I don't think the House, want to be on record as saying that the CFPB has given us the fairest, safest, and most robust capital markets in the world. I have no doubt there are many good men and women who work there. They have done some important work. But fair? Fair, Mr. Chairman? An agency in the name of consumer protection that would deny one-third of current Black and Hispanic homeowners the opportunity to own a home? This is fair? It is just incredible. We have brought this up several times in this debate, Mr. Chairman, and we hear crickets chirping on the other side of the aisle. Now if a private company did that, there would be riots in the street, but it is okay if government has a disparate impact on minorities. I don't know if that is fair. We have had testimony in our committee that literally half--half--of the mortgages today, according to CoreLogic, wouldn't qualify under the QM rule promulgated by the CFPB. I am not going to go on record saying that is fair; that it is somehow fair that half of Americans who otherwise would have qualified for a mortgage can no longer have it? To say that somehow the current oversight is adequate to this agency, an agency that sets its own budget, an agency that is spending $145 million to renovate a $150 million building they don't even own, to give us a tree bosque, to give us granite water features? This is somehow a good use of the taxpayer money, a reflective carnelian granite water table, triple the renovation rate of class A luxury space in Washington? If there was ever an agency, Mr. Chairman, that demands accountability to the American people, this is it. You do not protect consumers by taking away their rights, their freedoms, their ability to shop in competitive and transparent markets, and you do not protect them by taking away their income and spending it on a lavish palace for unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I would just say to my friends on the other side of the aisle--and the gentlelady from Wisconsin, I would draw her attention to the Federal Reserve bulletin, November 2013, Volume 99, No. 4, page 37, that clearly shows, again, according to the Federal Reserve, that 34 percent of Blacks and 32 percent of Hispanics would not meet the new QM standard based upon the 43 percent debt-to- income requirement. Now, this is Federal Reserve data. If the gentlelady or any other Member on the other side of the aisle wishes to refute this data from the Federal Reserve, they are certainly free to do so on their time. But again, I am not going to go on record saying this is fair. I haven't heard anybody rebut what CoreLogic has said, that when fully implemented, half of today's mortgages would not qualify under the QM rule. This is not fair. Mr. Chairman, somebody has to protect consumers from the CFPB. Consumers, yes, they have to be protected from Wall Street, but they have to be protected from Washington as well. You do not protect consumers by having unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in Washington whose average salary is over $175,000--salary and benefits--to somehow say: I am from Washington. I am smarter than you. I will decide whether or not you get a mortgage. It is arrogant; it is unfair; it is abusive. It must stop. We should reject the gentlelady's amendment, and we should adopt the underlying legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly).

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. To protect consumers, you first need to make sure they have the power to consume; and under the Obama administration economic policies, tens of millions of our fellow citizens are either unemployed or underemployed. They don't have the income to consume. That is not consumer protection. Part of the problem is the CFPB because true consumer protection, Mr. Chairman, empowers consumers in innovative, transparent, competitive markets; and it respects the intelligence and the dignity of the American citizen; and it preserves their economic liberty to choose the mortgages, the credit cards, and, yes, even the payday loans that they choose to consume. But instead, Mr. Chairman, many of my friends on the other side of the aisle would love to take away ``In God we trust'' and put up there ``In government we trust.'' The American people are tired of unaccountable, arrogant Washington bureaucrats, the unaccountable, the unelected who are taking away their homeownership opportunities, taking away their credit cards, and insulting them by saying: I am from Washington. I am smarter than you. I am better than you. I know what is best. It is time for us to pass the Consumer Financial Freedom and Washington Accountability Act; and I particularly thank Messrs. Duffy, Bachus, and Neugebauer for authoring this key piece of legislation. I urge its passage. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I rise to oppose the amendment.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I am now pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pittenger).

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus).

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr).

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds to say that the CFPB is building a database containing full credit report data on 53 million borrowers who took out mortgages since 1998. The project manager said: ``It is easy to reverse-engineer and identify the people in our database.'' CFPB has a credit card database of at least 991 million credit cards and approximately 136 million Americans. The Bureau is collecting a database of credit reports on 8.6 million Americans. They continue to collect personalized data from Americans without their permission. It is unacceptable. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Ross).

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner).

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I would like to inquire how much time is remaining on each side.

Mr. HENSARLING

Mr. HENSARLING. I object.

Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion.