I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4255 

To require the Federal Housing Finance Agency to establish a 6-month 

moratorium on foreclosure of mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae or 

Freddie Mac on homes of individuals who have lost Federal unemployment insurance as a result of the expiration of such program, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2014 

Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. GEORGE

MILLER of California, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. NOLAN, Ms. HAHN, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. LEE of California, 

Mr. FARR, Mr. HONDA, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Ms. 

ESHOO, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. TONKO, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. JACKSON

LEE, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. 

BONAMICI, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. 

RUSH, Mr. GARCIA, Mr. NEAL, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. ELLISON, 

Mr. PALLONE, Mr. LANGEVIN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. DOYLE, Ms. CHU, Mr. 

THOMPSON of California, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, 

Mr. RANGEL, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Ms. LOFGREN, 

Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. 

TAKANO, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. GENE GREEN

of Texas, Mr. CLAY, and Ms. DELAURO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require the Federal Housing Finance Agency to establish 

a 6-month moratorium on foreclosure of mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac on homes of 

individuals who have lost Federal unemployment insurVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:17 Mar 21, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H4255.IH H4255

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ance as a result of the expiration of such program, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Foreclosures Due 

5 to Congressional Dysfunction Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE MORATORIUM. 

7 (a) MORATORIUM.—The Director of the Federal 

8 Housing Finance Agency shall prohibit mortgagees of eli9 gible mortgages under subsection (c) from initiating a 

10 foreclosure, whether judicial or nonjudicial, or taking any 

11 action in furtherance of a foreclosure already initiated, in12 cluding any foreclosure sale, with respect to any eligible 

13 mortgage during the foreclosure moratorium period under 

14 subsection (d) for such eligible mortgage. 

15 (b) TREATMENT OF MORTGAGE PAYMENTS DUE

16 DURING FORECLOSURE MORATORIUM PERIOD.— 

17 (1) DEFERRAL OF MORTGAGE PAYMENTS; IN18 TEREST DUE.—The Director shall provide that, dur19 ing the foreclosure moratorium period with respect 

20 to an eligible mortgage— 

21 (A) the term of the mortgage shall toll; 

22 (B) any payments of principal and interest 

23 due under the mortgage shall be deferred; and 


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1 (C) interest on outstanding principal due 

2 under the mortgage shall continue to accrue at 

3 the rate provided for under the mortgage. 

4 (2) RESUMPTION OF MORTGAGE PAYMENTS; 

5 AMORTIZATION OF INTEREST ACCRUED.—The Direc6 tor shall provide that, upon the expiration of the 

7 foreclosure moratorium period with respect to an eli8 gible mortgage— 

9 (A) the term of the mortgage, and the re10 sponsibility of the mortgagor to make payments 

11 of principal and interest due under the mort12 gage, shall resume; and 

13 (B) any interest accrued pursuant to para14 graph (1)(C) shall be amortized, and payable, 

15 over the remaining term of the mortgage. 

16 (c) ELIGIBLE MORTGAGE.—An eligible mortgage 

17 under this subsection is a mortgage that— 

18 (1) is owned, held, securitized, or guaranteed by 

19 the Federal National Mortgage Association or the 

20 Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; 

21 (2) is a mortgage on a 1- to 4-family residence 

22 that is the principal residence of the mortgagor; 

23 (3) was current with respect to payments of 

24 principal and interest, and any taxes, insurance, and 

25 other amounts required to be paid in escrow, that 


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1 were due under the mortgage as of the beginning of 

2 the foreclosure moratorium period with respect to 

3 such eligible mortgage; and 

4 (4) has a mortgagor who— 

5 (A)(i) received extended compensation or 

6 additional compensation for a week of unem7 ployment ending at any time during the 7-day 

8 period ending January 1, 2014; 

9 (ii) has exhausted all rights to regular 

10 compensation under the unemployment com11 pensation law of a State at any time during the 

12 period beginning January 1, 2014, and ending 

13 on the date of enactment of this Act and has 

14 remained continuously unemployed throughout 

15 such period; or 

16 (iii) exhausts all rights to regular com17 pensation under the unemployment compensa18 tion law of a State at any time during the pe19 riod beginning on the date of enactment of this 

20 Act and ending on July 1, 2014; and 

21 (B) as of the beginning of the foreclosure 

22 moratorium period with respect to such eligible 

23 mortgage, has a ratio of debt to income, as de24 termined in accordance with such requirements 


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1 as the Director shall establish, that was greater 

2 than 40 percent. 

3 (d) FORECLOSURE MORATORIUM PERIOD.—The 

4 foreclosure moratorium period under this subsection with 

5 respect to an eligible mortgage shall be the 6-month period 

6 beginning upon— 

7 (1) in the case of an eligible mortgage of a 

8 mortgagor described in clause (i) or (ii) of sub9 section (c)(4)(A), the date of the enactment of this 

10 Act; and 

11 (2) in the case of an eligible mortgage of a 

12 mortgagor described in clause (iii) of subsection 

13 (c)(4)(A), the date on which such mortgagor ex14 hausts all rights to regular compensation under the 

15 unemployment compensation law of a State. 

16 (e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

17 following definitions shall apply: 

18 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

19 the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agen20 cy. 

21 (2) ELIGIBLE MORTGAGE.—The term ‘‘eligible 

22 mortgage’’ means a mortgage that meets the re23 quirements of subsection (c). 

24 (3) FORECLOSURE MORATORIUM PERIOD.—The 

25 term ‘‘foreclosure moratorium period’’ means, with 


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1 respect to an eligible mortgage, the period specified 

2 in subsection (d) for the mortgage. 

3 (4) MORTGAGEE.—The term ‘‘mortgagee’’ in4 cludes, with respect to an eligible mortgage, any 

5 creditor, servicer, or holder of such eligible mort6 gage, and any other person acting on behalf of any 

7 such creditor, servicer, or holder. 

8 (5) REGULAR COMPENSATION; EXTENDED COM9 PENSATION; ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION.—The 

10 terms ‘‘regular compensation’’, ‘‘extended compensa11 tion’’, and ‘‘additional compensation’’ have the 

12 meanings given such terms in section 205 of the 

13 Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensa14 tion Act of 1970 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note). 

Æ 


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