When Cuomo was Housing and Urban Development secretary, he was the prime mover behind programs that destabilized Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and his programs to mandate banks loan to low-income and bad-credit homebuyers were a significant factor in the housing collapse.
Congresswoman Gillibrand served as Special Counsel to Andrew Cuomo, Pres Clinton's appointee as Secy of HUD. Gillibrand played a key role in furthering HUD’s Labor Initiative and *New Markets initiative (sub-prime mortgages); Gillibrand worked to strengthen the Davis-Bacon Act and drafting new markets legislation for public and private investment in building infrastructure to revitalize lower income areas across the nation."
Translation: Their fingerprints are all over the current recession.
"Sure, I know how I got the job. Clinton needed my daddy in his corner, so he
gave me the HUD job. That's how I got the $18 million to run for Governor."
CUOMO AND BILL CLINTON CREATED CONDITIONS FOR MELTDOWN (Village Voice 8-5-08) Andrew Cuomo, the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history, made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country’s current crisis. He took actions that—in combination with many other factors—helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the sub-prime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments. He turned the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded “kickbacks” to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans.
Three to four million families are now facing foreclosure, and Cuomo is one of the reasons why.......
SOURCE http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-08-05/news/how-andrew-cuomo-gave-birth-to-the-crisis-at-fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac/
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Feb 8, 2010
THE DIRT ON CUOMO
Editorial, The Wall St Journal
FR Posted February 08, 2010 by The Raven
HUD's Web site chronicled that in 1999 "Then-HUD Secy Cuomo (Clinton appointee) established new Affordable Housing Goals requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (govt-sponsored enterprises involved in housing finance) to buy $2.4 TRILLION in mortgages in the next 10 years. This will mean new affordable housing for about 28.1 million low- and moderate-income families." "The historic action raised the required percentage of mortgage loans for low-and moderate-income families that the companies must buy from the current 42% of their total purchases to a new high of 50%—a 19% increase—in the year 2001." ... (Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
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REFERENCE Entitled, "Highlights of HUD Accomplishments 1997-1999," the document chronicles the "accomplishments under the leadership of Secretary Andrew Cuomo, who took office in January 1997." HUD's Web visitors learn that in 1999: "Secretary Cuomo established new Affordable Housing Goals requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—two government sponsored enterprises involved in housing finance—to buy $2.4 trillion in mortgages in the next 10 years. This will mean new affordable housing for about 28.1 million low- and moderate-income families.
Cuomo's historic action raised the required percentage of mortgage loans for low- and moderate-income families that the companies must buy from the current 42% of their total purchases to a new high of 50%—-----a 19% increase—in the year 2001."
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STATEMENT FROM NY GOVERNOR DAVID A. PATERSON
Appoints Kirsten Gillibrand to Hillary's Senate seat
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 23, 2009
EXCERPT “New York State laws empower the Governor to appoint a new Senator if a seat should come open. It is my privilege and my responsibility to make this choice on behalf of the people of New York."
“That is why I am proud to announce my appointment of Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to represent New York in the United States Senate. I am appointing Kirsten Gillibrand because she is the right leader for this decisive moment in our history. “Kirsten Gillibrand, the next junior Senator from New York will have big shoes to fill. This seat has been held by icons of New York State: Robert Francis Kennedy, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Hillary Rodham Clinton."
" During the administration of President Clinton, Congresswoman Gillibrand served as Special Counsel to Andrew Cuomo, Pres Clinton's appointee as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development."
"At HUD, Congresswoman Gillibrand played a key role in furthering HUD’s Labor Initiative and *New Markets initiative, working to strengthen enforcement of the Davis-Bacon Act and drafting new markets legislation for public and private investment in building infrastructure to revitalize lower income areas across the nation."
Following federal service, Congresswoman Gillibrand entered the private sector, joining one of the Country’s premier law firms.
READ MORE AT: http://www.state.ny.us/governor/press/press_0123091.html
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NOTE * New Market Initiatives are also known as "subprime markets," the self-same sub-prime markets that precipitated the destruction of the US economy.