are serving the housing needs of the neighborhoods and communities in which they are located. a second is to help government officials target public investment to promote private investment where it is needed. a third purpose is to provide data to assist in identifying possible discriminatory lending patterns and facilitate the enforcement of anti - discrimination laws, such as the equal credit opportunity act. today ’ s hearing is intended to serve as a venue to discuss whether or not the 2002 revisions to regulation c provided useful and accurate information about the mortgage market, to gather information that will help assess the need for additional data elements or improvements, and to identify emerging issues in the mortgage market that may require additional research. as i said earlier, we are also interested in any comments on the implementation of the hmda elements of the regulatory reform legislation. we have gathered this morning an impressive array of panelists representing a broad spectrum of vantage points, and we look forward to their comments. this input, together with the input of the preceding hearings and written comments submitted from the public, will be carefully weighed as we consider changes to regulation c.

norwood. one reason for this success, i am sure, is that she rose from the ranks, and the values of the bls were deeply ingrained in her over the 28 years she served this agency. those who worked with janet say she strongly believed the bls was uniquely positioned to contribute to the economic policy debate as an authoritative, unimpeachable source of information and analysis about the economy. in her 13 years as commissioner, janet succeeded in winning support for an ambitious expansion of the bls. she launched the annual consumer expenditure survey, as well as many other important data series, and elevated the skills and quality of statistical analysis throughout the agency. to supplement the traditional measurement of productivity as output per hour of labor, she oversaw the creation of a new measure of multifactor productivity in the private sector, estimating productivity as the result of both labor and capital inputs. when budget pressures threatened to end important data series collected elsewhere at the department of labor, she found the means to continue these series at the bls. at the same time, janet faced challenges to the bls ’ s tradition of professionalism and objectivity. from 1979, when she was appointed by president carter, to 1991, when she retired, the news on employment, productivity, and inflation was often bad. in this bis central bankers ’ speeches circumstance, the bls was sometimes accused of overstating economic problems, and it occasionally came under pressure to alter the basis for its data. janet norwood fended off these challenges with a mixture of resolve and flexibility, channeling some of the pressure into deliberate and constructive processes that eventually yielded improvements in the consumer price index and generated alternative price measures. as commissioner and like her predecessors, janet helped preserve the bls ’ s deserved reputation for accuracy and integrity by continually improving the design, procedures, and techniques of data collection. after government service, janet had a long and active retirement in which she continued her contributions to the economic profession and the science of statistics. she passed away on march 31 of this year. to members of her family who are with us today, thank you for her extraordinary service to our country. janet ’ s legacy continues in the ongoing work of the exceptional agency she helped build, on the foundation laid by carroll wright, whom she so appropriately joins today in this hall of honor. the bureau of labor statistics is exceptional, and in that way, i hope it serves as an example of how effective, reliable, and trusted government can be.