relevant sectof the hse ethics manual st that, e, campaign ntbutions do not necessari constitute nancial inrest. how n the standards comtt lack the authority to set standards or interpret rus? thispaicularly confusing en oneonsiders tt the standacoittee can dress the issue by amending the inrpretiof financial interest it has also promulgated in the hoe ethics manl. oneeed not readfarnto the suary before realizing th members through their campan committees derive signi benit frothe, quote, widespread perception, earmarks d camp contribns. to etend thisenefitoes not conste financi instno longer a viable option. we ao longer acting in ignorance. the wink, wink, nod nod game we ha all kno to exist with rerd that emark and campaigcontributions is well docented anthe stdards committee definition of finaial interest nee tbe updated to reflect these findings system of where d go from here? we ca s press reports indatny meers are clined to do. the problem th the approach is that the message about theink tween earmks ancaaignontributions has already been deler. what we do with t o.e. at this point

behind tm, it would bring other nancial institutions. it was congress, especially with of the gst act, -- the gse act, that tied the hands of regulators and that led to this fannie mae and freddie mac correct the cenr of the housing market and -- and freddie mac were at the center of the housing market. how d everybody get into a home? beyond this, we were muscling to get down payments down to zero. to reach the affordable housing mandates enacted byongress in 1992, faie and freddie became the largest purchasers of these and joenger loans -- of these jokes loans -- of these junk loans. congress asked us to rein in the excessive risk-ting. senator dodd helped lead the opposition to it. under the leadership of ricrd shelby, senate republicans passed the bilthrough the banking committee it that the attack to the heart of the+ problem, the excessive buildup of leverage address within the mortgage portfolios. that bill was wtten uby the fed. at that time, these institutions were leveraged at 100-1. this was the warning that thee3 pending coll

the analyst may have questions about nancial information or management strategies. i do think that thos communications for purposes of creating predictive credit ratings or useful. >> is there a manager who oversees the analysts and can be available for discussion of these issues? >> there are managers to oversee our analysts, yes. they would be available. >> let me ask you want final question. what i your view of what caused the financial crisis? >> in terms of direct cses, certainly the weakening of the housing market, the softening of that market, and importantly, the very rapid tighteng of credit for mortgage borrowers who needed to refinance. that greatly exacerbated the issue. the sudden tightening of credit produced theindf large and rapid problem that we saw. >> it is principally a problem of people not being able to finance -- refinance debt sts failures? >> that was an important contributor. it acted as a catalyst. >> mr. buffe, we have had housing bubbles before. we have had other kinds of asset mobile's before, most recently oil price asset bubble. this

mr.peaker, american deserve a nancial system that protects their savings and their money. until this congressassings the wall strre package, erica's families and sll businesses are at risk. mr. sner: byupporting reform we support the financia stability that supports b creati. effective regulati is the biased refer that rotects as we mpete. evyone benefits when sll business can get loans. yesterday's laws do notrote today. i commd chairman fran and chus. el back. the speaker pro mpore: the gentleman yields bthe balance of hisime. fowh purpo does the maomouisiana ris >> asknanimous csent t address the e for one minute. the spear pro tempor witht objection. mr. fleming: mr. speaker, the sein o obamacareo the americ publicas been trade marked by one ety promise afr another. on september 9,2009, president obama infamously promised amerans, and i qote, if you are ong e hundreds of millions of amerins who ready have heah insurae thh yo job, nothing this plan ll require u your empoyer to change the coverage othe doct you have. twist the ama ministration released dra rations indica

credit by having regulators have credit rating under standards and that could have been done at the nancialinstitution level, it cold have been done at the fannieand freddie level. i have to tell you i know the staff at fann in 2007 wen to the director fomc there's a collapse in cred undwriting taking place we have to do something. and the director says don't go, i don't want to see these people again. simply to reduce the availability of creit by reducing the demand for the rtgage asets. one of the things that helps fuel the internet bubble is th fact that faie and freddie have affordable housing goals. that the affordable goals by providina maket fo the aaa charges of some prime private-label mortgage bked secues. if they were not ermitted any coverage to buy l of those mortgage-backed securities the ability to lay off the sub prime mortgage backed securities in the market would have been significantly lower. third as the congressman foster talks about great length, in a much more sophisticated way than mentioned here, you can reduce the supply of available financing by raing downpayments

his portfolio has also included nancial regular tour refrm, campaign finance, whistblower protection many other reform issues. prior to joining the administration, he was a general counsel for the presidential transition team, and before that was a litigation partner in the washington, d.c., firm of zukermtated where he practiced for 18 years. you al was one of the founders of the citizens for responsible and ethics in washington, the organization grew, a government wahdogup that said this is a man who has be on both sides of the inside and outside divide and regute he a conversation with them. he's going to talk about the administration's perspective on these democracy issues and he will have time for questions and aners. norm eisen, thank you very much for joining us. [applause] >> thanks everyone. it is a pleasure to be ere. think my job description is the representative of the first ever to break down the silos. miles was talking bout. of course, thiis the first white house to have a special counsel who wos on th government ethics and reform issues and has been, i think, a useful