Chairman Towns spoke this week with Democracy Now! and Errol Louis about his call for a nationwide foreclosure moratorium.

From Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller:

“Congressmen Ed Towns (D-N.Y.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) want agencies to fully transition to the Networx telecommunications contract by May 31, 2011.

“The chairman and ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee co-authored legislation, the Complete the Networx Telecommunications Transition Act (H.R. 6267), to require all agencies to acquire telecommunications services from the General Services Administration's Networx contract by next May, when the current FTS2001 bridge contracts are set to expire.

“‘The estimated $22 million in lost savings for every month we are delayed is unacceptable,’ Towns said in a release. ‘I insist that the federal government become better stewards of taxpayer dollars and this legislation represents my commitment to doing so.’

“Towns said only about 25 percent of the dollar value of Networx has been transitioned, meaning there are several large agencies that have not yet completed transition.

“So far, almost 67 percent of the transition to Networx is complete, GSA says on its website.

"’I intend to reach out to those underperforming agencies to better understand the causes of continued delay and work with them to expedite their transition to Networx,’ Towns said. ‘In this tough economic climate, there is simply no excuse for the continued foot dragging by some federal agencies on transitioning to Networx.’

“Towns plans to work through the recess and thereafter on the appropriate next steps, legislative or otherwise, to ensure that the Networx transition is a priority and that as much cost savings as possible are realized.

“Towns also held a hearing in May asking why the transition is taking so long and what can be done to increase its pace. Since that hearing, GSA says transition increased by 14 percent, and could be at 75 percent by the end of this month.”

Read more here.

From the NY Post’s Mark DeCambre:

"Brooklyn Rep. Ed Towns, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is mulling the launch of a formal investigation into how hundreds of thousands of forged and faulty mortgage documents were created and used to kick thousands of families out of their homes, sources told The Post.

"Towns has already written to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and asked the state's top law enforcer to investigate foreclosures. But now he is considering taking to task lenders and other financial entities -- known as "foreclosure mills" because they produce mortgage-related documents upon demand for a fee -- over falsification of documents and lost paperwork that's led to some homeowners in good standing with their mortgage payments getting bounced from their houses.

"Sources said Towns and other Washington lawmakers are in the early stages of exploring their options in the foreclosure firestorm."

Read more here.

Bank of America today announced that effective immediately the bank will stop foreclosure actions nationwide pending an internal review of foreclosure documents.  The announcement comes less than one day after Chairman Towns called on the ten largest mortgage banks and lenders to immediately and voluntarily suspend foreclosure proceedings in all 50 states and the District of Columbia until the banks complete internal investigations into their company’s mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices.

From the NY Times’ David Streitfeld:

“Bank of America, the country’s largest bank, said on Friday that it was halting all foreclosure proceedings and sales of foreclosed homes indefinitely.

“The action by the bank is likely to increase pressure on other lenders to declare their own moratoriums. Lawmakers and state law enforcement officials have been widely calling for such halts.

“Representative Edolphus Towns, the New York Democrat who is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, applauded Bank of America’s move and said, ‘I expect to see every other responsible banking institution follow their lead.’”

Read more from the New York Times here.

Chairman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY) convened a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday September 30, 2010, to gather additional information from Johnson & Johnson and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the recall of Children’s Tylenol and other popular pediatric medications, and the “phantom recall” of Motrin. The Committee heard testimony from J&J CEO William Weldon, J&J Consumer Chief Colleen Goggins and FDA Deputy Commissioner Josh Sharfstein.  The hearing highlighted the need to provide the FDA with mandatory recall authority -- as would be granted in Chairman Towns’ legislation H.R. 5740. 

From Parija Kavilanz at CNNMoney.com (September 30, 2010):

"Johnson & Johnson CEO William Weldon delivered both a mea culpa and clear admission to lawmakers Thursday that his company let the public down through numerous recent drug recalls.

"'We made a mistake. We did not notify the FDA that we would be purchasing the Motrin products. We should have notified the FDA,' Weldon said in remarks Thursday to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

"Sharfstein said Johnson & Johnson activities exemplify the need for the FDA to be given authority to mandate recalls.

"Two bills introduced this year, one by committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY), would impose stricter regulations on the industry and give the FDA authority to mandate recalls.

"In his closing remarks, Towns said Thursday's testimony indicates some very serious problems in 'both with the way Johnson & Johnson viewed its responsibility to the public and its day-to-day relationship with the FDA.'"

To read the witness testimony and to view a webcast of the hearing, please click here.

Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) convened a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Thursday, September 23, 2010, to examine potential State Department security shortfalls in Iraq following the withdrawal of U.S. military forces. Commissioners from the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan delivered a sobering assessment of the challenges ahead to ensure the safety of U.S. diplomats in Iraq.

From Joe Davidson at the Washington Post (September 23, 2010):

A July 12 report by the commission said the State Department has about 2,700 private-security contractors in Iraq but will need up to 7,000.

"It is not clear that it has the trained personnel to manage and oversee contract performance of a kind that has already shown the potential for creating tragic incidents and frayed relations with host countries," Michael Thibault, commission co-chairman, said in a statement to the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee.

The Defense Department has yet to respond to a six-month-old State Department request for assistance seeking, among other things, helicopters, trucks and mine-resistant vehicles.

Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) said the Pentagon's "apparent lack of cooperation is unacceptable."

In response to a troubling EEOC report regarding equal employment practices at the Department of the Interior, Chairman Towns is seeking additional details surrounding the failures of the Equal Employment Opportunity program at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

From Joe Davidson at the Washington Post (September 22, 2010):

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, informed [Interior Secretary Ken] Salazar by letter Tuesday that the panel "is investigating the standards, practices, and policies employed by Interior to achieve a diverse workforce and maintain accountability for violations of anti-discrimination laws."

Towns told Salazar to provide documents and other information, including the racial and ethnic breakdown of major agencies in the department, a detailed description of the Fish and Wildlife Service's equal employment opportunity program and an explanation of Interior efforts to increase diversity.

As part of the Committee's inquiry into the life insurance industry's use of retained asset accounts, Chairman Towns and Rep. Lynch are seeking information about MetLife's handling of its life insurance policies for federal employees.

From Joe Davidson at The Washington Post (September 1, 2010):

Two members of Congress who are central to federal workforce issues are questioning the practices of the insurance company that provides life insurance for federal employees.

Reps. Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-N.Y.) and Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) have sent a letter to MetLife CEO Robert Henrikson, asking him to explain his company's use of "retained asset accounts." Metlife is only provider of life insurance for federal civilian employees through FEGLI, the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance program.

Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal reported on the investigation Chairman Towns launched into Prudential Insurance Company's failure to pay cash to the families of fallen soldiers.

From Bloomberg News:

Representative Edolphus Towns, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said his panel will investigate the insurance benefits for U.S. soldiers provided by Prudential Financial Inc. and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Bloomberg Markets magazine reported July 28 that Prudential holds payments owed to the families of fallen soldiers in its general corporate account and sends survivors “checkbooks” that aren’t insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The company earns profit on the money held and pays beneficiaries interest.

Several members of Congress have called for an examination of the program administered by Veterans Affairs, and the agency is conducting its own review. Lawmakers are proposing fuller disclosure for beneficiaries of their right to accept lump-sum payments or have the money held in Prudential’s accounts.

“I am particularly concerned that some families of soldiers killed while serving their country may not understand that they have the right to this money up front,” Towns, a New York Democrat, said in a statement.