ms. speier: thank you, mr. speaker. i encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting h.res. 1347, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california yields back the balance of her time. all time having been yielded back the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1347. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. ms. speier: mr. chairman -- mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california requests the yeas and nays. the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings

ms. speier: will the gentlewoman yield? ms. killry spock yes. ms. you were referring to credit card, i'm reminded that in 1980 a credit card application was one page long, about 700 words. today a credit card application, and indeed a contract, is closer to 30 pages. imagine a senior citizen trying to wind their way through 30 pages of legalese and know precisely what they were getting. isn't it true that the consumer financial protection agency is going to simplify that process for seniors and for all americans? ms. kilroy: that's one of the important things to take a look at all the confusing documents. one of the charges that was made against one of the financial institutions in this country was that they were pushing forward some of their predatory lending products by having closing documents that were about as thick as a telephone book and pushing people that they didn't have time in the closing to actually read them. no, you've got toeep moving, keep moving. people not really understanding what they we signing in these lengthy documents of fin

ms. speier: as a side bet. as a side bet. they stayed in this tower, but they took them out in a manner that allowed you to just bet for and against them. and as long as there was someone on the sell side and someone on the buy side, it was ok with wall street. mr. garamendi: on the buy side, they would be giving information that was inaccurate. the standard and poors, the rated agencies of the world would go out and use some -- i don't know -- gym milk, to rerate -- gimmick. rerate it as though it was more valuable and more secure. so we had a cabal here and the regulation of wall street is so critically important to us in our ordinary life, in our ability to keep a job. it's important for the financial system of america. banking is crucial to the economy. and when you get a banking industry that's playing financial games rather than making loans, we're going to find ourselves in trouble. the creativity of goldman sachs, we now know from the hearings, we also know that other major banks and mortgage lending companies were pl

ms. speier. ms. speier: thank you, mr. garamendi. as you were talking about the shennigans what we heard last week was deeply troubling to all of us and the chairman, mr. levin did an outstanding job in focusing in on what was really going on at goldman sachs. so we started last week here on our house floor looking at goldman sachs' principles that they have espoused and on their website and started saying what their principles were and emails suggested what they were really up to. i thought we would focus on one principle. one of their principles is we stress creativity and imagination in everything we do. this is the top one up here. while recognizing that the old ways may still be the best way, we constantly strive to find a better solution to a client's problems. we pride ourselves on having pioneered many of the practices and techniques that have become standard in the industry. now, in an email from goldman sacks' v.p., he says, and i quote, standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leverage, exotic trades he created

ms. speier: mr. speaker, i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from louisiana. mr. cao: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to my distinguished colleague from the state of louisiana, mr. scalise. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for three minutes. . scalise: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my colleague from new orleans. this is a sad time for those of us from south louisiana. it's a sad time, especially as we look at what's happening ery day as more oil gushes into our marchland, our valuable, fragile ecosystem. but if there's anything that eclipses the sadness that we're experiencing on the coast, it's the loss of those 11 lives, the 11 brave men who died on that horizon rig and the families that they left behind. so many of those young men left behind young children and wives who now have to cope with the loss and somehow find way -- find a way to move on. our prayers go out to those who lost their lives and

ms. speier: mr. speaker, i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from louisiana. mr. cao: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to my distinguished colleague from the state of louisiana, mr. scalise. the speaker pro tempore: the gentman from louisiana is recognized for three minutes. mr. scalise: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my colleague from new orleans. this is a sad time for those of us from south louisiana. it's a sad time, especially as we look at what's happening every day as more oil gushes into our marchland, our valuable, fragile ecosystem. but if there's anything that eclipses the sadness that we're experiencing on the coast, it's the loss of those 11 lives, the 11 brave men who died on that hozon rig and the families that they left bind. so many of those young men left behind young children and wives who now have to cope with the loss an somehow find way -- find a way to move on. our prayers go out to those who lost their lives and tho

ms. speier: thank you, mr. speaker. the army corps of engineers had a saying during world war ii. the difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer. in 1993 president clinton tried to do the impossible by lifting the decades long ban on gay and lesbian soldiers serving openly in the military. unfortunately congress opposed him and the discriminatory don't-ask, don't-tell law was passed. since then, over 13,500 service members have been fired and countless other courageous and qualified americans have been prevented from serving. well, it's been 17 long and painful years since we tried to do the impossible. congress now has the chance to end this injustice. the president agrees. the military agrees. the american people agree. let's honor our nation's over one million gay veterans this memorial day. this week let's lift the ban on gays serving openly once and for all. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: with

ms. speier: i thank the gentleman from for his passionate commitment. i would like to address this issue of mortgages. so many americans have seen their homes being foreclosed over the last two to three years and the numbers are staggering, seff million, eight million, nine million homes. there is a misconception that these are younger families. but the truth is many of these people are senior citizens. and one of the protections in the wall street reform is we are going to deal with banning predatory mortgage lending. and i want to just share with you one example. this is ba in 2000 at the age of 57, willie howard, who at long last became a homeowner and had a tiny house in washington, d.c. of 963 square feet. now willie never learned how to read. so he proved to be an easy touch for refinancing offers as the housing bubble inflated. by may of 2005, his $108,000 loan had ballooned to $137,000 because he had been courted by mortgage brokers who wanted to suggest that he could save more money. by october of 2006, after four more refinancings, mr. howard'

ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, h.r. 4491, introduced by representative jackie speier of california, would authorize the national parks service to conduct a special resource study to determine appropriate and feasible ways to commemorate the african-american men known as the buffalo soldiers and the important role that they played in the early years of the national parks. . these soldiers played a critical role in protecting yosemite and sequoia national parks and served as the nation's first park rangers. under the proposed legislation the national park service would evaluate alternatives to commemorate and interpret the roles of the buffalo soldiers. they would also evaluate the suitability and feasibility of establishing a national historic trail along the route used by the buffalo soldiers from their post in the presidio of san francisco to the sierra nevada mountains. representative speier is to be commended for her work to highlight this important chapter in african-american history and in the history of our national parks. mr. speaker, h.r. 4491 received broad bipartisan support in committee and i urge it