Dodd-Frank Congressional Hearing – Lost Opportunity?

Dear Doug, George and Tony:

Because of your keen interest in this issue, We thought that you might be interested in the below Press Release regarding a June 16, 2011 congressional hearing on the “Impact of Dodd-Frank Regulations on Jobs and U.S Competitiveness.” The hearing, according to the Release, is a reflection of “widespread and growing concern that the Dodd-Frank Act with its 400 new regulations will lead to industry capital and jobs leaving the United States.”

Given the fact, as Doug so correctly pointed out in his recent open letter to CFED’s Kathryn Goulding, that Dodd-Frank, “without alteration will … eliminate the availability to finance [manufactured housing] loans lower than $78,000” when the HUD Code market averages $60,000, we were wondering whether anyone submitted, at the very least, written testimony for this hearing on behalf of the industry’s finance companies, retailers and communities? If not, that failure, in itself, illustrates the need for a separate national post-production industry association…and if yes, it should have been widely circulated for further publicity and a second bite of the apple with other members of Congress and Washington officials.

While it is true that the focus of the in-person testimony at this particular hearing related more to international regulatory disparities, the fact remains that given the potential damage that Dodd-Frank regulation could do to the industry, with its corresponding impacts on economy, jobs and competitiveness in the heartland of the United States, this matter (i.e., elimination of a whole class of affordable housing for moderate and lower income American families) should be highlighted and new markers established with Congress and other officials in Washington at every step, such as this hearing. The post-production sector and its national representative, need to be taking advantage of every conceivable opportunity and every possible forum (particularly a direct Dodd-Frank hearing, like this) to expose the plight of the industry and its consumers, and the need for a remedy from Congress. Needless to say MHARR fully supports any such action.

Thanks,

Danny

Danny D. Ghorbani
President
Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform
1331 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Suite 508
Washington, D.C. 20004
Phone: 202/783-4087
Fax: 202/783-4075
Email: DANNYGHORBANI@AOL.COM

---

Press Release
Financial Services Committee to Examine Impact of Dodd-Frank Regulations on Jobs and U.S. Competitiveness
WASHINGTON — The Financial Services Committee will examine the international implications of the Dodd-Frank Act on U.S. economic competitiveness during a hearing on Thursday.

“There is a widespread and growing concern that the Dodd-Frank Act with its 400 new regulations will lead to industry, capital and jobs leaving the United States. This is a concern that many of us on the Committee have expressed repeatedly,” said Chairman Spencer Bachus. “Our hearing will examine the regulatory disparities between the U.S. and other nations and how that could put American companies at a competitive disadvantage and harm our economy.”

The Committee will specifically look at four crucial areas where divergent regulatory approaches taken by the United States and the rest of the world could damage the U.S. economy and the ability of financial institutions to compete against their foreign counterparts: capital and liquidity requirements; regulation and oversight of “systemically important financial institutions”; derivatives requirements; and a total ban on proprietary trading.

The hearing, titled “Financial Regulatory Reform: The International Context,” will begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 16 in room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

This will be a two-panel hearing with the following witnesses:
Panel I
Sheila C. Bair, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Lael Brainard, Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs
Gary Gensler, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Mary Schapiro, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
Daniel K. Tarullo, Governor, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
John Walsh, Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Panel II
Stephen O’Connor, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley, and Chairman, International Swaps and Derivatives Association
Timothy Ryan, President & CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association
Hal S. Scott, Nomura Professor and Director of the Program on International Financial Systems, Harvard Law School
Barry L. Zubrow, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Damon A. Silvers, Associate General Counsel, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations