STARTS AT 19:40

Helping Homeowners Harmed by Foreclosures: Ensuring Accountability and Transparency in Foreclosure Reviews

Housing, Transportation, and Community Development

Tuesday, December 13, 2011
02:30 PM – 04:30 PM
538 Dirksen Senate Office Building

COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Witnesses

Panel 1

  • Honorable Julie Williams [view testimony]
    First Senior Deputy Comptroller and General Counsel
    Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Panel 2

  • Ms. Alys Cohen [view testimony]
    Staff Attorney
    National Consumer Law Center
  • Mr. David Holland [view testimony]
    Executive Vice President
    Rust Consulting, Inc.
  • Mr. Paul Leonard [view testimony]
    Vice President of Government Affairs
    Housing Policy Council of the Financial Services Roundtable
  • Dr. Anthony B. Sanders [view testimony]
    Professor of Finance
    George Mason University School of Management
  • Ms. Ann M. Kenyon [view testimony]
    Partner
    Deloitte & Touche LLP
  • Mr. Konrad Alt [view testimony]
    Managing Director
    Promontory Financial Group, LLC

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As you listen to this, keep in mind our Founding Fathers’ constitutionally provided property rights protections:

The truth is that the Founders were concerned about a range of human values, but property rights were high on their list. Their Constitution and Bill of Rights protected property in many ways:

* When it became clear that the ban on ex post facto laws was not broad enough to protect property, they partially plugged the gap with the Fifth Amendment, which (1) prevented any person from being deprived of . . . property, without due process of law and (2) required compensation when property [was] taken for public use (Freddie/Fannie/Ginnie/HUD).

* They granted Congress authority to punish piracy, a crime directed principally against property (I-8-10).

* They adopted the Fourth Amendment, which protected persons, houses, papers, and effects from unreasonable search and seizure.

* They also inserted a number of other checks and balances, designed partly to protect minorities from unfair property confiscations.

More on the Founders’ mindset on property rights,

place[d] property ahead of freedom of religion, press, speech, and assembly, the right to petition the government, the right of self-defense, the right to be secure in one’s home, and the rights of the accused, including the right against self-incrimination and the right to a fair and speedy trial in which one may face one’s accusers. In short, the Framers placed property rights higher than all the rights that are most commonly associated with them.

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