Randy Neugebauer and Maxine Waters don't have much in common politically. The Texas Republican has a lifetime score of 97 on the American Conservative Union's 100-point scorecard, while the California Democrat scores just 3.
But both know how to talk to a room full of mortgage bankers.
The two House Financial Services Committee members gave back-to-back speeches Wednesday at the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual National Advocacy Conference at the Hyatt Regency Washington. And despite their sharp political differences, they both managed to light up the room with applause.
Neugebauer, a former home builder, scored points with his promise to vote to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, if he gets that opportunity.
He said that it's already taken 24 million man-hours to comply with the 2010 reform law, and then drew laughter when he remarked: "It took 20 million hours to build the Panama Canal. And so instead of connecting two bodies of water, we're collecting lawyers and billable hours."
Waters, a longtime supporter of expanding access to homeownership, got a hand when she said that despite everything that has happened in the last five years, "I fundamentally believe that most Americans still aspire to the dream of owning their own home."
"Let me just say there's a lot of talk going around Washington, D.C., and on the Financial Services Committee, where I serve, that maybe not everybody deserves a home," Waters said. "'Maybe we should not encourage people to home ownership. Maybe we should be talking about building more rental units. Not everybody is able to manage the responsibilities of a home.'
"But I'm with you. And you can clap again."
