•HRES 553 IH 
Whereas our country is currently in the middle of a fore-
closure crisis, with an average of 6,600 foreclosures oc-
curring each day; 
Whereas since the initial credit disruption of 2007, our na-
tional unemployment rate has risen above 8 percent, 
leading to 5,700,000 lost jobs; 
Whereas approximately 145,000,000 Americans presently 
have credit cards, with the average household carrying 
more than $8,000 in credit card debt; 
Whereas with gas and food prices rising to record highs, 
many families are using credit cards to make up the dif-
ference between today’s higher prices and their stagnant 
or lost wages; 
Whereas even credit cardholders with accounts in good stand-
ing, have seen their credit limits reduced; 
Whereas otherwise creditworthy borrowers have been denied 
credit; 
Whereas the costs of accessing the capital markets remain 
too steep for many small and mid-sized companies, pre-
venting them from obtaining needed capital for day-to- 
day expenses and expansion; 
Whereas domestic businesses are increasingly drawing on 
their lines of credit to repay debt, meet payroll costs, and 
expand core product areas; 
Whereas reductions in a business’ ability to access credit is 
causing an increase in unemployment and a decrease in 
economic growth, as evidenced by a drop in gross domes-
tic product of 6.1 percent for the first quarter of 2009; 
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•HRES 553 IH 
Whereas reductions in a consumer’s ability to access credit 
is causing significant financial hardship to the average 
American family; 
Whereas since 2007, the United States Government has pro-
vided 
banks 
and 
financial 
institutions 
access 
to 
$700,000,000,000 through the Troubled Asset Relief 
Program (TARP); 
Whereas the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program imple-
mented by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board 
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System dem-
onstrates that our largest bank holding companies have 
enough capital to resume normal lending activities; 
Whereas despite receiving more than $1,000,000,000,000 in 
Government assistance, improvements to system-wide li-
quidity, and signs of receding market risk, financial insti-
tutions continue to tighten restrictions on consumer and 
business access to credit; and 
Whereas the inability of potential homebuyers to obtain mort-
gages is prolonging the housing and economic crises: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the Secretary of the Treasury and the 
Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Re-
serve System should— 
(1) protect and enhance every American con-
sumer’s and business’s access to credit; 
(2) encourage credit card issuers, banks, and 
other creditors to recognize longstanding customers 
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•HRES 553 IH 
who are in good standing by not cutting their credit 
lines or raising their interest rates; and 
(3) reserve access to programs under the Fed-
eral Reserve Act and the Emergency Economic Sta-
bilization Act for those institutions that are working 
to increase consumer and business access to credit. 
Æ 
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