Reps. Conyers, Gutierrez, Capuano and Sens. Franken, Menendez Release GAO Report Investigating Foreclosure “Robo-signing”

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Contacts: Nicole Triplett, 202-226-5543                                                                                             Date: Thursday, May 5, 2011                   

Ed Shelleby (Franken) (202)-224-1868
Menendez Press Office (202) 224-4744
Nicole Triplett (Conyers) (202) 226-5543
Douglas Rivlin (Gutierrez): (202) 225-8203
Alison Mills (Capuano) (617) 621-6208

Reps. Conyers, Gutierrez, Capuano and Sens. Franken, Menendez Release GAO Report Investigating Foreclosure “Robo-signing”

Legislators Push for Nat’l Standards to Avoid Unfair Treatment and Wrongful Foreclosure on Homeowners

(Washington)—Today, Reps. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Mike Capuano (D-Mass.) and Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) released a GAO report confirming reports that mortgage servicers had been fraudulently signing or notarizing affidavits allowing the completion of foreclosures without any personal knowledge of the cases, a process more commonly referred to as "robo-signing." 

The legislators commissioned the report, entitled Mortgage Foreclosures: Documentation Problems Reveal Need for Ongoing Regulatory Oversight, to investigate news accounts that homeowners were being improperly foreclosed on.  In an effort to prevent future wrongdoings by mortgage servicers, the legislators today pressed banking regulators to implement safeguards recommended by the report that would ensure homeowners do not wrongfully lose their homes.

“We write today to urge you to develop a coordinated plan to ensure comprehensive oversight of federally regulated mortgage servicers and to reiterate our calls for national servicing standards that specifically address the foreclosure process,” the legislators wrote in a letter to banking regulators. “We have seen countless examples of servicers giving borrowers the run-around and continuing the foreclosure process when a loan modification has already been obtained.  Perhaps the most egregious cases of servicer wrongdoing have been violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act by wrongly foreclosing on active-duty servicemembers.  Correcting these problems and ensuring they do not reoccur should be a priority for all of your agencies."

The GAO report concluded that:

• Despite various federal agencies’ having the authority to oversee mortgage servicers, past oversight of mortgage servicers’ foreclosure activities has been limited and fragmented;
• It remains unclear how regulators and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will share the responsibility of overseeing servicers, continuing the potential for poor and inconsistent oversight; and
• National standards for mortgage servicers that address expectations for the foreclosure process could improve the ways servicers do business.

GAO recommends that banking regulators and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:

·         Develop plans for overseeing mortgage servicers; and

·         Include foreclosure practices in any servicing standards that are developed.

The letter from the legislators to Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; John G. Walsh, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; Sheila C. Bair, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; John E. Bowman, Acting Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, and Elizabeth Warren, Special Advisor for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can be read here.

GAO Letter Banking Regulators

GAO Mortgage Foreclosure Report

CC approves controversial 'net neutrality' rules

Net neutrality 101

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• FCC approves open-internet "neutrality" plan, with complaints from both sides
• Plan is designed to keep people who pay from getting better Web service than others
• Congress could still act to amend or weaken rules

(CNN) -- The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved "high-level rules of the road" designed to ensure that internet providers grant everyone equal access to the Web.

But the 3-2 vote immediately came under attack from both flanks, with internet-freedom advocates saying the new rules don't go far enough and critics saying the government should stay out of online business altogether.

In announcing the proposed rules this month, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said they would require high-speed internet providers to treat all types of Web content equally.

The rules are designed to, in effect, keep the companies that own the internet's real-world infrastructure from slowing down some types of websites or apps -- say, those belonging to a competitor -- or speeding up others for high-paying clients.

For average internet users, the vote affects whether government will guarantee they'll continue to have access to all Web content, regardless of their internet provider's wishes, and whether they'll get that content as quickly as businesses or individuals able to pay more for it.

Few neutral on net neutrality

Net neutrality: Why you should care

High-speed internet for all

RELATED TOPICS

• Internet
• U.S. Federal Communications Commission
• Domestic Policy

The commission's agenda said the vote addressed "basic rules of the road to preserve the open internet as a platform for innovation, investment, competition and free expression."

Web freedom advocates argue the vote doesn't do that.

Commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat, signed off on the rules but called them only a "first step in the right direction."

"In my book, today's action could have, and should have, gone further," he said. "Going as far as I would have liked was, however, not in the cards."

For example, he said, the rules won't absolutely prevent broadband providers from "pay for priority" -- giving faster service to those able to pay for it, or to one favored business over another.

Instead, the regulations say those practices "generally violate" nondiscrimination rules.

The vote was along party lines, with the commission's three Democrats voting to "concur" with the rules and its two Republicans voting against them.

Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Republican, called the vote a "radical step" and said it puts the FCC "on a collision course" with the courts, which he predicted will throw the rules out.

"The FCC is not Congress," he said. "We cannot make laws."

Republicans have largely argued the government has no right to interfere with business practices online.

McDowell said "nothing is broken in the internet-access market that needs fixing."

President Barack Obama, in a written statement, called the rules an important part of his administration's goal of advancing "American innovation, economic growth and job creation."

"Today's decision will help preserve the free and open nature of the Internet while encouraging innovation, protecting consumer choice, and defending free speech," Obama said.

As a candidate, Obama pledged to support open-internet policies.

Although the commission approved the rules, Congress could still act to amend or weaken them. Members of the House and Senate, from both sides of the aisle, have expressed concerns for different reasons.

Internet proposal sets off political firestorm

Lawmakers already are considering legislation that would, in effect, repeal the rules. And at least one is threatening to cut off funding to the FCC to implement the rules.

The proposal also doesn't set the same set of rules for mobile communications as it does for Web-based ones. So, the rules protecting information on a home computer might not keep the same data free on a mobile phone.

Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat and one of Congress' most vocal net-neutrality advocates, calls the issue "the most important free-speech issue of our time."

In a column Monday for The Huffington Post, Franken said some of the current proposal's language could actually weaken protections.

"(T)his Tuesday, when the FCC meets to discuss this badly flawed proposal, I'll be watching," he wrote. "If they approve it as is, I'll be outraged. And you should be, too."

Copps, however, said that "if vigilantly and vigorously implemented by the commission -- and if upheld by the courts -- it could represent an important milestone in the ongoing struggle to safeguard the awesome opportunity-creating power of the open internet."

Genachowski, the FCC chairman argued that currently there are no rules governing internet freedom and that the regulations strike a balance between the two extremes of opinion. He also noted they include new rules for mobile that address some critics' concerns.

He called the policies "high-level rules of the road" and called internet freedom an ongoing issue for the commission.

By Doug Gross, CNN December 22, 2010 9:29 a.m. EST | Filed under: Web

Michele Bachmann and Minnesota Family Council

Madame Bachmann is not going to like this...

Taken from her own Wikipedia page

According to Bloomberg.com news, evangelical conservative leader James Dobson put the resources of his organization behind her 2006 campaign. Dobson's Focus on the Family planned to distribute 250,000 voter guides in Minnesota churches to reach social conservatives, according to Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, a local affiliate of Dobson's group. In addition to Minnesota, Dobson’s group also organized turnout drives in Pennsylvania, Maryland,Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Montana.^[27]

Franken takes on Family Council, anti-LGBT bullying

Sen. Al Fraken

Sen. Al Franken called the words of Minnesota Family Council president Tom Prichard “unbelievable” in an interview with the Advocate on Tuesday. Prichard wrote last week that “homosexual activists” share in the blame when LGBT students commit suicide because “they’ve embraced an unhealthy sexual identity and lifestyle.”

To that quote Franken said, “After all the tragedy that Anoka-Hennepin school district students have endured this year, I find unbelievable that anyone would suggest that bullying is not a problem.”

Also on Tuesday Franken wrote in an article posted at the Huffington Post that the string of suicides by LGBT students around the country this year is “inexcusable.” He said he’s working with groups like the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network to pass the Student Non-Discrimination Act, which prohibits schools from ignoring harassment and bullying based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

“It is inexcusable that toxic school environments have been contributing to the deaths of innocent children,” he wrote. “We must act now to prevent these tragedies.”

Franken introduced the bill this spring. A companion to the bill has been submitted in the House and is sponsored by Reps. Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum and James Oberstar.

“Some view this epidemic of suicides as a wake-up call and are looking for ways to prevent future tragedies,” Franken wrote. “We firmly believe that if schools work to create positive cultures and if Congress passes the Student Non-Discrimination Act, those steps will be a huge stride forward in protecting LGBT students from the bullying and harassment that is all too common in schools today.”

At least three LGBT students have taken their own life in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, the state’s largest school district, and concerned parents and teachers have begun to pressure the school to make changes. The district has seen at least six student suicides within the past year, with the most recent coming Sunday night, according to a Fox 9 report.

At a press conference last week in the district, Franken sent a statement saying, “In what should be an unthinkable scenario, some of these children and young people end their own life.” He added, “Anoka-Hennepin has witnessed too many tragedies this year. We need to do more to protect our children from bullying. It’s time we extend civil rights to LGBT students.”

PETITION: STAND WITH ME TO SAVE NET NEUTRALITY AND STOP THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF OUR MEDIA

PETITION: STAND WITH ME TO SAVE NET NEUTRALITY AND STOP THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF OUR MEDIA