Senate approves anti-CRA bill on party lines: House next bat

Hello all:
Well, the Senate's version of Financial Modernization (S. 900) passed
last night, along party lines as anticipated. The bill contains serious
anti-CRA restraints which threaten reinvestment progress across the
country. The next battle will be in the House Commerce Committee before
going to the full House; the President has threatened a veto, but this
will depend on what comes out of the House and what compromises emerge from
the conference committee to resolve House and Senate differences.
So now, it's time to gear up for the next big fight, in the House
Commerce Committee and then in the House. Here are the members of the
Commerce Committee, followed by a post-mortem on S. 900 by the National
Community Reinvestment Coalition:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Members of House Commerce Committee: 106th Congress
[EMAIL: name <Commerce@mail.house.gov>]


Tom Bliley, VA, Chairman
~~~~
W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, Louisiana
Michael G. Oxley, Ohio
Henry A. Waxman, California
Michael Bilirakis, Florida
Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts
Joe Barton, Texas
Ralph M. Hall, Texas
Rick Boucher, Virginia
Cliff Stearns, Florida
Edolphus Towns, New York
Paul E. Gillmor, Ohio
Frank Pallone, Jr., New Jersey
Sherrod Brown, Ohio
James C. Greenwood, Pennsylvania
Bart Gordon, Tennessee
Christopher Cox, California
Peter Deutsch, Florida
Nathan Deal, Georgia
Bobby L. Rush, Illinois
Steve Largent, Oklahoma
Anna G. Eshoo, California
Richard Burr, North Carolina
Ron Klink, Pennsylvania
Brian P. Bilbray, California
Ed Whitfield, Kentucky
Eliot L. Engel, New York
Greg Ganske, Iowa
Thomas C. Sawyer, Ohio
Charlie Norwood, Georgia
Albert R. Wynn, Maryland
Tom Coburn, Oklahoma
Gene Green, Texas
Rick Lazio, New York
Karen McCarthy, Missouri
Barbara Cubin, Wyoming
Ted Strickland, Ohio
James E. Rogan, California
Diana DeGette, Colorado
John Skimkus, Illinois
Thomas M. Barrett, Wisconsin
Heather Wilson, New Mexico
Bill Luther, Minnesotta
John B. Shadegg, Arizona
Lois Capps, California
Charles W. "Chip" Pickering, Mississippi
Vito Fossella, New York
Roy Blunt, Missouri
Ed Bryant, Tennessee
Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., Maryland


The House Committee on Commerce2125 Rayburn House Office
BuildingWashington, DC 20515(202) 225-2927Commerce@mail.house.gov
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NCRC Press Release
Senate Republicans Deliver Body Blow Against Community Reinvestment Act and
Makes the American Dream of Homeownership and Small Business Ownership
Harder to Reach
For immediate release - 4 PM, May 6, 1999
Contact:
John Taylor, President and CEO
Josh Silver, Vice President of Research and Policy
(202) 628-8866
Washington DC - "The U.S. Senate punched hard against the Community
Reinvestment Act (CRA) and struck against the hopes of millions of working
class and minority Americans for owning their first home or small business.

The Senate has wounded the most effective fair lending law of the last 25
years," exclaims John Taylor, President and CEO of the National Community
Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC).
Taylor continues, "But the fight is not over; the President has issued a
veto threat; and NCRC is mobilizing thousands of community groups Mayors,
religious leaders, civil rights organizations, and others who believe in
the vital importance of CRA to their neighborhoods. The battle moves on to
the House side, where chances are much greater of passing a
community-friendly bill."
Today, the Senate gave a hand-up to the banking, insurance, and securities,
industries, and at the same time, a backhand to the average working class
American," states John Taylor of NCRC.
The Senate is about to approve S. 900, the Financial Services Modernization
Act of 1999, that tears down the walls separating banks, securities firms,
and insurance companies. At the same time, the Senate approved anti-CRA
provisions that would cripple the effectiveness of the law. The Community
Reinvestment Act (CRA) is an anti-redlining law mandating that banks have
an affirmative obligation to serve all the communities, including low- and
moderate-income communities, in which they are chartered and from which
they take loans. CRA has leveraged impressive amounts of loans and
investments for traditionally underserved neighborhoods. In 1997, for
example, low- and moderate-income neighborhoods received 32.5 billion
dollars in home mortgage loans.
NCRC Board Member Shelley Sheehy maintains, "CRA and nonprofit
organizations make it possible for small rural banks to serve their
communities. For example, in Brooklyn, Iowa a nonprofit developer, the
Mid-America Housing Partnership, teamed up with Poweshiek Savings Bank to
produce 10 new homes for young families and single mothers. In Deep River,
Iowa with a population of 500 people, Gibson Savings worked with the
nonprofit to build five new homes. CRA is literally housing a substantial
number of people in these small towns."
"Without CRA, we would not have partnerships with banks that make
affordable home loans and small business loans to underserved
neighborhoods," states NCRC member Jim Bliesner, Director, of the San Diego
City-County Reinvestment Task Force. Washington Mutual, Bank of America,
and five other banks partnering with the Task Force made $725 million in
CRA loans and investments in 1997, more than triple the $175 million made
in 1993.
"Without the Community Reinvestment Act, we would have been unable to keep
bank branches open and launch new housing developments in Cleveland's
poorest neighborhoods, said Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White. "Our
involvement in the merger application process and other CRA-related
activities has allowed us to partner with local banks to direct over $3.2
billion in CRA financing to our neighborhoods in the last few years," Mayor
White added (the City of Cleveland has been a NCRC member for several
years).
S. 900 would exempt more than 3,800 small banks headquartered in
non-metropolitan areas with assets under $100 million. More than 72

percent of all rural lenders would be exempt from CRA. It would also make
it nearly impossible for community organizations, Mayors, religious
leaders, and the general public to comment to federal banking agencies
considering bank merger applications. This is a key time for CRA
enforcement when federal regulators make sure that the merging banks will
maintain or improve their CRA performance. Citizens will be unable to
offer their concerns about fees, access to branches, and the availability
of loans in their area unless they can prove that the banks in question no
longer deserve passing CRA ratings in all of their markets.
NCRC Board Member Gene Lowe of the U.S. Conference of Mayors spearheaded a
sign-on letter from more than 160 Mayors opposed to S. 900. According to
the letter, "Private sector investment encouraged under CRA has helped to
stabilize communities suffering from economic decline. CRA has similarly
helped to spur bank and thrift investment in multi-family rental housing
and rehabilitation, small business expansion, and community economic
development."
A growing bipartisan consensus has emerged concerning the value of CRA.
Last year, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) participated in the merger
application process involving First Union and Corestates, citing access to
reasonably priced banking services as one of his principal concerns.
Editorials from the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times,
Atlanta Constitution and many other newspapers applauded the value of CRA
and opposed weakening the law. Big and small banks including National City
Bank and Iron and Glass Bank in Pittsburgh have written letters to Congress
in favor of CRA and how it has helped them find profitable business
opportunities.
"If it were not for the ideological positions of a few Senators, we would
be discussing the expansion of CRA and protecting communities as the
financial industry is modernized and made more powerful by bills like S.
900," states NCRC's Taylor. "NCRC's 700 community member organizations,
hundreds of public officials, and countless others will prevail in
persuading the House to do the right thing in protecting the hard won
community reinvestment gains made possible by CRA."
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) is the nation's CRA
trade association of more than 700 community reinvestment organizations
dedicated to revitalizing inner city neighborhoods and rural areas by
promoting partnerships between lenders and community leaders.



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