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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release October 15, 1999

STATEMENT BY THE VICE PRESIDENT

I am deeply concerned about efforts by some Members of Congress to weaken the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). CRA is the single most important tool to insure that all communities are served by our financial institutions. Since we began reform of CRA in 1993 to focus on performance not paperwork, lending and investment to minorities has dramatically increased. Since CRA was enacted, the private sector has pledged more than $1 trillion going forward in loans to distressed communities and more than 95 percent of these financial commitments have been made since 1992. In 1997 alone, banks made $18.6 billion in community development loans.

While I strongly support efforts to modernize our financial institutions, I also am steadfastly committed to insuring that CRA remains strong and is not weakened. As we move into the next century, we need to insure that our financial institutions serve all of us, and that we work in partnership with the private sector to lend and invest in the untapped markets throughout our country.

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