IV 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 85 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the proposed 
settlement between the Department of Justice, the State attorneys gen-
eral, and mortgage servicers regarding mortgage fraud and the economic 
crisis. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 3, 2011 
Ms. BALDWIN (for herself, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. HIN-
CHEY, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. 
KAPTUR, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. 
MCDERMOTT, Mr. STARK, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. MATSUI, 
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HOLT, Ms. MOORE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. 
TSONGAS, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. COHEN, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. GUTIERREZ, and Mr. CONYERS) sub-
mitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard-
ing the proposed settlement between the Department of 
Justice, the State attorneys general, and mortgage 
servicers regarding mortgage fraud and the economic 
crisis. 
Whereas the United States has experienced a mortgage crisis 
since 2004; 
Whereas the mortgage crisis resulted from a number of 
causes in the housing and credit markets, including an 
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•HCON 85 IH 
increase in non-traditional mortgages such as risky 
subprime loans, substandard underwriting practices by 
lenders, and unstable risk-management practices; 
Whereas, since 2006, more than 3,000,000 houses in the 
United States have been recaptured through foreclosure; 
Whereas the rate of foreclosures has increased an additional 
23 percent since 2008, with approximately 2,900,000 
home mortgages in the United States in foreclosure in 
2010; 
Whereas homeowners across the Nation have been hit hard 
by the mortgage crisis with one in four homeowners ‘‘un-
derwater’’ on their mortgages, meaning that their home 
is worth less than the outstanding balance due on the 
mortgage on the property; 
Whereas underwater homeowners nationwide owe, in aggre-
gate, approximately $750 billion more than their homes 
are currently worth; 
Whereas the ongoing housing crisis and significant increase 
in mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures has contrib-
uted to the current financial crisis; 
Whereas the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has stat-
ed that ‘‘mortgage fraud is a growing crime threat that 
is hurting homeowners, businesses, and the national 
economy’’; 
Whereas the FBI has increased its investigative resources to 
address the mortgage fraud crisis; 
Whereas the FBI experienced an increase in suspicious activ-
ity reports filed by federally insured financial institutions 
from 6,936 reports in 2003 to 67,190 in 2009; 
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•HCON 85 IH 
Whereas investigations by the FBI and other law enforce-
ment entities, including State attorneys general, have fo-
cused on fraud related to loan origination, mortgage loan 
securitization, and mortgage servicing; 
Whereas, in the fall of 2010, reports nationwide exposed 
fraudulent foreclosure filings, including the practice of 
signing mortgage documents without verifying the con-
tent of the document, often referred to as ‘‘robo-signing’’; 
Whereas the attorneys general of the 50 States initiated an 
official investigation into the robo-signing scandal in Oc-
tober 2010; 
Whereas the State attorneys general and the Federal Govern-
ment have pursued a settlement with mortgage servicers, 
including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Ally Fi-
nancial, and Wells Fargo, that exceeds the original goal 
of addressing the robo-signing scandal; 
Whereas financial institutions have faced lawsuits regarding 
their role in the subprime mortgage boom and accom-
panying financial crisis; 
Whereas Bank of America has reached an agreement to pay 
$8.5 billion to settle claims over purchases of mortgage- 
backed securities by Countrywide Financial, which is 
owned by Bank of America; 
Whereas the $8.5 billion settlement with Bank of America 
represents only 2 percent of the $424 billion in mort-
gages that Countrywide issued and only 4 percent of the 
outstanding principal on the loans; 
Whereas the Federal Housing Finance Agency has sued a 
group of banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, 
JPMorgan Chase, and Barclays, for $200 billion for 
losses resulting from mortgage-backed securities; 
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•HCON 85 IH 
Whereas the Federal Housing Finance Agency lawsuit per-
tains to loans sold to the Federal National Mortgage As-
sociation (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan 
Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) that were based on 
incorrect or missing information; 
Whereas Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac neared insolvency in 
2008 due to subprime mortgage losses, were rescued by 
United States taxpayers, and have operated under Fed-
eral conservatorship since 2008; 
Whereas State pension funds were cheated out of critical in-
vestments due to fraudulent sales of mortgage-backed se-
curities; 
Whereas the fraudulent sales of mortgage-backed securities 
has resulted in financial losses for State’s worker retire-
ment funds, whose investors and beneficiaries include 
teachers, firefighters, and police; 
Whereas securities fraud lawsuits have been filed on behalf 
of beneficiaries of State pension funds, including a class 
action lawsuit against Merrill Lynch, now owned by Bank 
of America, for providing misleading documents for $16.5 
billion in certificates; 
Whereas banks are required to register and pay fees with 
county offices in each State for each sale or resale of a 
mortgage; 
Whereas many banks utilized the Mortgage Electronic Reg-
istration Systems (MERS) electronic mortgage registry, 
which permitted these financial institutions to repeatedly 
avoid paying local taxes; 
Whereas local communities lost local tax revenue through the 
banks’ fraudulent behavior and local counties are now 
suing to reclaim the significant amount of lost revenue; 
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•HCON 85 IH 
Whereas the proposed settlement between the State attorneys 
general, the Federal Government, and mortgage servicers 
is reported to be for $20 billion; 
Whereas the financial repercussions for the victims of the 
mortgage servicers’ fraudulent behavior, including home-
owners, State pension beneficiaries, and local commu-
nities, far exceeds $20 billion; 
Whereas reports of the proposed settlement describe that the 
settlement may halt State investigations and prosecutions 
into the mortgage servicers’ fraudulent behavior; 
Whereas the prevention of future fraudulent behavior would 
be aided by examining the findings of investigations into 
past such behavior; 
Whereas California Attorney General Kamala Harris has 
withdrawn from the proposed settlement due to concerns 
that the proposed settlement amount was insufficient; 
and 
Whereas New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has 
resisted requests to halt New York State investigations 
into mortgage fraud as a condition of joining the settle-
ment: Now, therefore be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that any action taken by the Department of 
Justice should be consistent with the following goals: 
(1) The mortgage servicers who engaged in 
fraudulent behavior should not be granted criminal 
or civil immunity for potential wrongdoing related to 
illegal mortgage and foreclosure practices. 
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•HCON 85 IH 
(2) The Federal Government and State attor-
neys general should proceed with full investigations 
into claims of fraudulent behavior by mortgage 
servicers. 
(3) Any financial settlement reached with mort-
gage servicers should appropriately compensate for, 
and accurately reflect, the extent of harm to all vic-
tims, including homeowners and State pension bene-
ficiaries, caused by the mortgage servicers’ fraudu-
lent behavior. 
Æ 
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