CNN 2012-07-10

 We begin tonight’s "Keeping Them Honest" with allegations that a whole bunch of members of Congress and their staffers got sweetheart deals on personal home mortgages, deals that most Americans had no chance ever getting, that is, unless you knew the right people. A new report out today focuses on allegations that the failed mortgage lender Countrywide Financial gave special treatment to the very senators and congress members and their staffers who were supposed to be regulating them and the rest of the lending industry. Today's report is by the House Oversight¹ Committee, and it details how this guy, Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, oversaw² the program giving a lot of people on Capitol Hill this preferential treatment. It was called, fittingly, the Friends of Angelo program. Now, the report today names a string of lawmakers and regulators from both parties, Democrats⁵ and Republicans, who benefited from this VIP treatment, Senate Budget Committee Chairman, for instance, Democrat⁴ Kent Conrad, former Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, Republican House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck⁶ McKeon. All three, by the way, deny any wrongdoing. The report also says the former CEO of home loan giant Fannie Mae, officials at Freddie Mac and a secretary of housing and urban development were also in this Friends of Angelo program. So were congressional staffers from both parties who played a role in legislation which affected⁷ Countrywide. Now, these VIPs, as I said, got favorable mortgage rates and points. One, a Democrat, Edolphus Towns, was a former chairman of the House Oversight Committee, the very same committee investigating Countrywide. He also denies any wrongdoing. Now according to the House report, quote, "Documents and testimony⁸ obtained by the committee show the VIP loan program was a tool used by Countrywide to build goodwill⁹ with lawmakers and other individuals positioned to benefit the company." The report went on to say that the effort, well, it worked. There's a lot to talk about. Joining me tonight is Congressman¹⁰ Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah. So, Congressman, I think a lot people will be very upset to realize that politicians and their staffs were getting these sweetheart deals from a company that was actually lobbying them. In your opinion, did anyone here commit a crime?

 

Well, there was no quid pro³ quo. We could not directly tie that somebody's vote directly to getting this benefit as the report points out. But, boy, it skirts awfully¹¹ close. You're given a benefit to something that your friends and neighbors or somebody off the street wouldn't be able to get because they were members of Congress or because they were working for members of Congress.

 

And, what I found amazing in your report is that according to the report, these sweetheart deals basically came about because so many congressional staffers were actually complaining to the Countrywide lobbyists about their own personal loans, and so the lobbyists sort of spent the first 30 minutes of meetings dealing¹² with people's personal complaints. That just seems outrageous¹³ to me.

 

It does, particularly when you're on the committees that are charged with maybe tightening¹⁴ up the rules and regulations, because we were dealing with all these bad, you know, loans and whatnot. And these people, they were complaining about them, but then, so they took this program, internal program and they called it Friends of Angelo and decided¹⁵ to go ahead and start helping¹⁶ these people. And it's just wrong. It didn't smell right, didn't look right because it wasn't right.

 

It would be as if I went to interview the, you know, some, the head of Countrywide and I spent the first 30 minutes of the interview or before the cameras are rolling complaining about, you know, my personal mortgage to the guy and then get directed to some program. I would be fired for that.

 

Look, they were put at it - a little bait was put out in front of these people and unfortunately a number of them bit on both sides of the aisle¹⁷. Key, important people, they bit at this stuff. Some claim that, well, they didn't really understand what they were doing, but that doesn't seem like much of a defense¹⁸ to me.

 

Yeah, I mean a lot of the members of Congress claim they never knew they were part of any preferential program. Are they lying? Do you have any proof that they did in fact know they were?

 

Could not directly tie that. You know, this investigation¹⁹ lasted some three years. Again, people on both sides of the aisle. But, you know, this was something you couldn't just pick up the phone or go down to, you know, your local Countrywide representative and get. You could only get it by dealing with the Friends of Angelo. And it seems obvious to me. But, … 

 

Yes, the Senate Budget Committee chairman, Kent Conrad, said to Politico that the Senate Ethics²⁰ Committee concluded unanimously he didn't receive any sweetheart deal on any transaction. Your report, though, alleges²¹ that he did, that he saved something like $20,000 through two preferred loans. So did the Ethics Committee get it wrong in the Senate?

 

Well, the Ethics Committee in general is fairly impotent. Usually, it's … the voters have to deal with this and make these types of decisions. What we could not directly tie was, hey, you got this sweetheart deal in exchange directly for this particular vote or for changing a piece of legislation. We could never directly tie those two together, but you can see what the consequences were. I mean that the taxpayers²² ended up footing all these bills. And at the same time, some of the key people on Finance and Banking²³ and the key staffers, one term that was used is this person has the pen in hand. That is, they were a staffer that was actually helping to write this piece of legislation. You can understand why when this lobbyist said to the committee this is why this person was targeted, you can see that there was there was an attempt here to influence.

 

The report now concludes that Congress should consider making it illegal for companies to offer discounts or other types of preferential treatment to members of Congress or their staff. I think most people would say that seems like common sense. Do you expect that is actually going to happen, though?

 

Well, it’s, as you said, it's very difficult to legislate²⁴ common sense. And, look, it is already inappropriate and illegal for a member of Congress to accept something that they wouldn't otherwise be able to get. So I don't understand why the Ethics Committee thinks that there's nothing. Here in the House, I think there's still some outstanding issues. But it was wrong. It doesn't look right, it doesn't smell right because it wasn't right, Anderson. And I'm glad that we did this report and hopefully it sheds more light on the issue.

 

Yeah, I'm glad you did it too. And again as you point out, these folks on both sides of the aisle here, Republicans and Democrats, involved in this. Congressman Chaffetz, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

1 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

2 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

3 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

4 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

9 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

10 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

11 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

14 tightening   

上紧，固定，紧密

参考例句：

• Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前，检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
• It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

17 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

18 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

19 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

20 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

21 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

22 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

23 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

24 legislate   

vt.制定法律；n.法规，律例；立法

参考例句：

• Therefore,it is very urgent to legislate for the right of privacy.因此，为隐私权立法刻不容缓。
• It's impossible to legislate for every contingency.为每一偶发事件都立法是不可能的。