>> think of the -- think of the wording, political intelligence. you know, there's so much question about what that even means. and there's a lot of discussion in this -- in this building and elsewhere about what is the consequence of that provision? are there constitutional questions? does it bring into question the ability for a constituent to come up to us, ask us the status of a particular piece of legislation? does it put that individual in the position of having to, then, go register? just as a citizen interested to know how to live his or her life jand ? so that's why we did what question in the bill. to call for study. let's look at the issues involved in this and understand exactly what's behind it. then i'd say something even more. this was a bill about ensuring that we abide by the trust and

the people that sent us here. it was about making sure that there was no perception or reality as far as members of congress or those in washington 's ability to use ousts bill. this is outside of who we are and what we do. the bipartisan consensus was to make sure we stand up and abide by that trust. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i said it has to do with the possibility that there would be an opportunity for anyone to take advantage of non-public information. that was the purpose of this bill. it was dealing with the perception and if there was any chance or fact of using non-public information for personal profit, we were not

going to allow it. and that's now produced the coming together to require disclosure upon transacting any stock. >> [ inaudible ]. >> you know, i think there was a lot of input. again, i'd indicated, working with mr. walz. i've been working with many members about concerns on this issue. to act with dispatch on tant this very straightforward issue. the issue is -- are members of congress going to be willing to be transparent in their actions as far as trading stock is concerned? because we are privy to non-public information at times. in the same way members and individuals in the executive branch. so we went and moved with dispatch and i think accomplish add goal given the fact there wasn't a lot of objection on the other side of the aisle the way this bill came forward. >> [ inaudible ].

>> i think it needs to pass the straight face test. and the fact is, we are going to spend less in our war efforts in afghanistan and iraq, and to use those funds to those savings, to propel more spending doesn't seem to make a great deal of sense to me. >> [ inaudible ] have you spoken to him? what your meg to him -- [ inaudible ]. >> i've not spoken to the secretary of transportation, but understand this. now, this vision of trying to create more jobs, opening up

american energy production, and using those royalties, to fund our infrastructure needs was a product of my office working with some members. but i think all of you understand that i'm committed to a process around here are that let's all members participate. i don't guide everything that goes on in every committee every day, or for that matter, what happens on the floor every day. and so the committees is produce add bill. there are some concerns about it'sthat's wit that's why we have a floor process i expect will be more open than we've seen in the past on a bill like this. >> [ inaudible ]. >> chairman upton energy and commerce committee will take the lead on this. i have full confidence that the committee will do this, in a

deliberate, bipartisan fashion. and so it will be up to the chairman to make those decisions. >> [ inaudible ]. >> appoint conferees between the house and senate to resolve these differences, and -- but we need to get moving. this all needs to happen. i'm not going to create an artificial deadline for me or you. i've been there. done that. not doing it again. the sooner the better. >> [ inaudible ].

>> you all know that i've kept myself out of this presidential race now for over a year. it's not my job to decide who the nominee's going to be. people show up and vote republican primaries around the country. they'll get to make that decision. rick santorum and i came to congress together in 1990. we worked together. we're great friends, and, you know, i'm not endorsing hill. i'm not endorsing my other good friend, newt gingrich. i other good friend, mitt romney, or the guy i've worked with for 18 years here, ron paul. they're all good people, and the american people will get to decide. >> [ inaudible ]. >> well, when it comes to the issue of religious freedom i think the line's pretty clear, and our country has upheld this issue since our founding.

and i think the house is going to work -- again, through the regular order, with real deliberations about how we protect the religious freedom of the american people. that's theissue. and we're keenly focused on it. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i don't know the particulars of the deal, but clearly if there was wrongdoing done by some of these mortgage lenders, they should be held accountable. thanks. join us in about ten minutes

for live coverage from this year's conservative political action conference known at cpac. it's the start of three days of c-span coverage of the events. today we'll hear from republican leader mitch mcconnell and former republican presidential candidate michele bachmann among others. live coverage at about 11:50 eastern here on c-span3. earlier today we showed you a senate judiciary committee meeting on legislation concerning the televising of supreme court proceeding. that markup session ended with the committee approving the bill by an 11-7 vote, which moves the bill forward. and by the way, on our facebook page, we're asking you about television coverage of the court. should the court proceeding be televised? go to facebook.com where you can vote, comment and share. and in other judicial news today, eric holder and housing secretary announce add $26 billion settlement reached twee the federal government and state rnargest mortgage service companies in

the nation, establishing a set of standards that mortgage servicers must follow in dealing with homeowners. we'll show you as mitch of this briefi much of this as we can before the cpac coverage begins. good morning. i'm with the attorney general from the state of iowa tom miller, associate attorney general tom perrelli, and protection corps, and hud inspector general and attorneys john southers, illinois lisad r announce our latest step forward in writing the wrongs that led to our nation's housing market collapse, and economic crisis.t and housing urban development along with 49 other state attorneys general and other federal agencies have reach aed

landmark with the five largest mortgagers. bank of america, jpmorgan chase and company. wells fargo and company, citibank and allied financial, which was formerly gmac. rlects agreement at both the federal and state levels to ensure justice and to recover losses for victims of reckless and abusive mortgage practices. in addition to addressing many of the most egregious mortgage services abuses that our investigations uncovered, this agreement establishes significant new homeowner protections to help prevent future misconduct. it also provides substantial financial assistance to victim borrowers. in fact it is the largest joint federal/state civil settlement in the mystery of this nation. although every american can be encouraged by today's settlement and the progress that it achieves, i realize that more work must be done. that's why we have taken steps to ensure that the claim ws we e

leasing throughs settlement will not interfere with current prosecutions forward. let me be clear on this. while today's agreement resolves certain civil claims based on mortgage loan servicing activities, it does not, it does not, prevent state and federal authority from pursuing criminal enforcement actions, and it preserves extensive claims related to mortgage securitization activities including the claims that will be the focus of the new residential mortgage backed securities working group. furthermore, the agreement does not prevent any claims by any individual borrowers who wish are to bring their own lawsuits. this agreement underscores the point that many of you heard me may here less than two weeks ago, secretary donovan announced and convened the first meeting of the fraud enforcement task

force new residential mortgage based backed working group. i noted that focusing on collaboration and by bringing our governments full enforcement resources to bear we can improve our ain't bility to prosecute a recover losses, to prevent fraud and to hold those of violate the law accountable. today's settlement proves this and is a remarkable example of cooperative law enforcement. multiple federal agencies including d.o.j., hud's office, federal housing administration, federal housing finance bureau, the board of governors ever the federal reserve system, the federal trade commission and special inspector generals for the troubled assets relief program all played key roles in a achieving this settlement, and we partered with the state attorneys general offices and state banking regulators from across the country who brought valuable expertise and unique on-the-ground experience with those directly affected by the

foreclosure crisis to this resolution. in particular, i want to recognize the outstanding work of the justice department, united states trustees program and our united states attorneys offices. u.s. trustees program which serves as the wax off of all bankrupt court operations was one of the first federal agencies to investigate mortgage servicer abuses of homeowners in financial distress, as part of their investigation, trustees reviewed more than 37,000 documents. and took discovery in thoracros. now, these efforts were advanced by early united states attorneys including u.s. attorney loretta lynch from the eastern district of new york who's with us today. during a three-year investigation, her office issued multiple spp subpoenasish, viewed over 2 million document and interviewed numerous witnesses and worked tirelessly to seek justice for homeowners

and taxpayers who footed the bill. the evidence compiled and the expertise provided was essential in reaching this historic settlement. similar large-scale reviews were also conducted by hud, fha and others. our investigations revealed disturbing practices. for instance, we saw that far too often services pushed borrowers into foreclosure, even though federal regulations require that servicers try other alternatives first. these failures didn't just hurt borrowers who might have been able to afford modified mortgages, they fueled the downward spiral of our economy, and of communities nationwide. they are voted fake in the financial system and punished american taxpayers who have will to foot the bill for foreclosures that could have been avoided. with this settlement we are recovering precious taxpayer resources and the state attorneys general will be

establishing a fund to facilitate fimts borrowers who as a result of improper lending practices lost their homes during the foreclosure crisis. mortgage services also will be required to dedicate substantial resources approximately $20 billion to provide assistance to struggling homeowners and neighborhoods. the agreement includes specific provision that will add protections and help ensure justice for u.s. service members and their families. i also want to note that with this settlement we aren't just holding mortgage services accountable for wrongs committed. we are using this opportunity to fix a broken system and lay the groundwork for a better future. our nation's lending mortgage services will be required to follow a new set of standards, which will be overseen by an independent monitor, and will be enforceable in federal court. my colleagueless discuss some of the details of today's settlements more specifically, and i encourage anyone seeking

additional information to visit a new website that we have established. www.nationalmortgagesettlement. com. i want to thank everyone who contributed to this settlement and i would like to turn things over to the leaders of this important work, my colleague in the cabinet, secretary sean donovan. >> eric, thank you, and i want to thank everyone here on the stage, but also the countless folks who are here in the audience that worked so closely, so long hours, including into the wee hours last night, to make this day possible. and i want to return in a moment to talk about the remarkable work in particular of our state partners, the attorneys general. but i do want to single out in particular tom perrelli, who was

just a relentless, relentless magnificent partner in this work. tom, thank you. eric, thank you for picking tom, putting him on this as a partner, and i really do appreciate all the work that you did together with my team. attorney general holder just mentioned, this historic settlement will not only hold institutions that wronged families, neighborhoods and contributed to the collapse of not just the american economy but the international economy, not just hold them accountable, but it will also provide immediate relief to homeowners. forcing banks to reduce principle on loans, refinance loans for underwater borrowers, and pay billions of dollars to states that can be used for

direct help to consumers struggling today. and it comes not a moment too soon for homeowners. four o for our housing market and the economy. we all know how the housing lenders sold loans to people who couldn't afford them and packaged mortgages up to make profits that turned out to be nothing more than a m mirage. families did the right thing and still lost their house or saw their home prices drop through no fault of their own. as the bank's acknowledged this settlemented and with hud, banks across the country heard from consumers in every state of this nation, those abuses didn't stop there. they continued long after people got the keys to their new homes. we know this not only because of the investigations that attorney general holder just spoke about, but because in the summer of

2010, long before the robo signing scandal erupted into public view, hud initiated a large-scale review of the federal housing administration's largest servers. combined with the work you'll hear are about from the inspe inspector general and his remarkable team, between us we devoted more than 15,000 hours to reviewing servicing files for thousands upon thousands of fha inre this review included not just the robo signing conduct that has been so publicly discussed, but a long list of mortgage servicing issues such as lost paperwork, long delays, missed deadlines, or problematic loan modifications offered to homeowners. as hud's office of inspector general found, the country's

largest -- five largest loan servicers also routinelyly sign documents without really knowing whether the facts that they contained were correct. in effect, many of the very same financial institutions responsible for so much of this crisis were making it worse. harming families, neighborhoods, and our economy. this settlement holds those institutions accountable for their actions. as you heard in this settlement we're announcing to day, more than $25 billion in total. and that number could grow as we look to add additional institutions to this settlement.

reducing the loan balances for approximately a million families who owe more on mortgages than they're suffered in other ways. principal reduction at this scale will not only help the underwater homeowners start building equity again, but also their neighbors who have watched their homes drop by $5,000 to $10,000 in value each time a foreclosure sign goes up in their neighborhood. the settlement will help unemployed home owners to catch up on late mortgage payments, funds housing counseling services to connect at risk families and it helps communities struggling with vacant properties that drag down neighborhood home values. and by instituting tough penalties and stringent time lines enforced by our respected independent monitor, joe smith, banks have a strong incentive to provide this help quickly and effectively.

they provide cash payments for owners that are victims of deceptive practices. we all recognize can you not undo the pain of this crisis simply by writing a check. but these payments provide victims with welcomed and needed relief. one of the most important way this is settlement helps homeowners is it not only wrongs -- rights past wrongs, but that it forces the banks to clean up their acts and fix the problems uncovered during our investigations going forward. and it does that by committing them to major reforms in how they service mortgage loans. these new customer service standards are in keeping with the homeowner bill announced by president obama in the last few weeks. a single straight forward set of common sense rules that families can count on when making the single most important purchase of their lives. and it requires lenders and servicers in this settlement which just the five of them

represent nearly two out of every three mortgage loans serviced in this country to follow a long list of rights for those facing foreclosure. no more lost paperwork, no more excuses, no more run around. and this is just one step in making sure we right the wrongs of this crisis. indeed, last month as attorney general holder mentioned, he and i announced with many state partners as well an investigation into the conduct of financial institutions that broke the law and led to the crash of the housing market including securities and originated related cases. so while it isn't designed to address all the issues of the housing crisis, it is a historic agreement and a big victory for those harmed the most. combined with the broad based financing plan that president obama announced to help homeowners last month, an additional steps we have made to support principal reduction, it

provides a path towards stability for our housing market and our broader economy. banks and mortgage servicers expect that homeowners will meet their obligations under a mortgage. homeowners should have the very same expectation of their financial institutions. and with this settlement, those institutions will be forced to live up to those expectations. holding these banks accountable is what this settlement is about and helping the millions of families harmed by this crisis. it's why i'm so proud to join all my partners today and why i'm particularly proud to introduce not only attorney general tom miller but also to thank attorney general tom suthers for their leadership in getting to this four-star agreement. you know, many americans have lost faith in institutions in this country and our ability to

cross party lines and to put country ahead of politics. this agreement restores my faith and i hope so many others' faith that we can do big things regardless of party divisions and geographic lines. this would not have been possible without the early and relentless leadership of tom miller and john suthers. i have come to call them friends and partners through this. and i recognize the remarkable work of their colleagues as well. but i need to single them ou i tom miller to the podium, to say thank you for their remarkable, remarkable work. many of the things that we need to do to help homeowners going forward will require congressional action. i think we have on this stage an example of what can be done when we put country ahead of party. but we also as president obama

has said, we cannot wait for that action. and this announcement today shows that we can do big things in this country across partisan lines and restore faith in the ability of our institutions to help families that need it most. so, tom, thank you. congratulations. john, thank >> this settlement is about how many owners. homeowners? distress. people in our nd help as much as anybody else. and that's what we have focused on and that's what this settlement does. as outlined by the attorney general and hud secretary, there is a number of things that are going to help homeowners and help them a lot. i want to talk about two aspects. one is the servicing standards. a real strong bill of rights of how they treat homeowners in

distress. in the past, it's been a dysfunctional system. homeowners don't get called back. they put documents in and they get lost. the wrng decisiong decisions ar. people are foreclosed upon while discussing loan modifications. a dysfunctional system. agreeme of guidelines has potential to change all that. and it's going to be incumbent on all of us to make sure that that potential is realized. we have the states. we have the federal government. we have a court decree. we have a monitor. a monitor that we never had before in this kind of situation to make sure that they do what they promised. and if they do, this as debbie hagan said, it's a sea change in how homeowners are dealt w i say today to the banks, this is an opportunity for you in your

enlightened self interest, this is a opportunity to change things for the homeowners, yourself, and your reputation. this is a great opportunity for them to do the right thing. this is also about this agreement came about as a result of strong, hethy bipartisanship relationships. the attorney generals have a rich tradition of being a bipartisan group and that's never been more true than in this settlement. john suthers to my right here led the republicans along with rob mckenna, the attorney general of washington and the president of the attorney generals association worked with the republicans. attorney general pam bondy was on this negotiating committee and worked a lot with the new republican attorney contributed. roy cooper of north carolina, democrat, was the steady hand in

all of this as we went forward. lisa madigan ofin what we've done. through debbie hagan, her rshgable assistant and through own leadership and through her courage, you know, i don't think we see as much political courage today as we should. but we saw a lot with lisa. and she stood and supported and worked on this agreement under verytime. that's good stuff, lisa. and we respect it and admire you for that. george jefferson of connecticut who is here with us was on the negotiating committee and did a great job. attorney general dustin mcdaniel of arkansas, attorney general doug dansler of maryland, greg zeller of indiana are also here. they contributed in this effort as well. so we have this great group of attorney generals working on a