Date: 2011-03-29
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the chairman very much. and I thank my colleagues very much as well. As we come to the floor of the House. I know that Members on both sides of the aisle are committed to knowing the facts. We want to know the facts when we go to town hall meetings when our constituents pose very deliberative questions. We want to give them numbers. We want to be able to reason with them. And one of the deliberative aspects of legislation is that you fix it. you dont end it. So I rise today to ask my colleagues to support my amendment. an amendment that I think makes common sense. It is an amendment that thoughtful Members can support. It is an amendment that. whether you are Republican or Democrat. you want to know what works. My amendment would call on the Secretary of the Treasury to commission a study that would identify what aspects of the HAMP program were successful and effectively carried out the original intent of the program. It would then require the Secretary to issue a report to Congress containing all findings and determinations of the study and legislative recommendations for a new mortgage modification program that could more successfully and effectively achieve the original purpose of the Home Affordable Modification Program. We have to thank the administration for recognizing that people were literally on their knees. There is no doubt that we have different philosophies. My friends on the other side of the aisle. they keep talking about the deficit and the depressing aspect of the $1 trillion debt. We keep talking about invest and grow the economy. When you grow the economy. you have the ability to pay down on your debt. you have the ability to address the question of the debt ceiling. So my question is: Why wouldnt you want to know the best practices? Let me give you some of the myths that have been presented. One suggestion is that this legislation that we have before us to end the HAMP program will prevent another $30 billion from going to one of these programs. That is inaccurate. The repeal of this program will. in essence. save only $1.437 billion. That is all that it will save. But. more importantly. what you will have is you will throw homeowners into the streets when the major asset for Americans. middle class. hardworking Americans. is their home. Lets find out the best practices and make this work. The monthly rate of new loan approvals would have to triple in order to approximate the amount cited by the chairman of this committee. suggesting $30 billion. Actually. we expect the rates are. instead. likely to modestly decline. So you are not going to have that much savings and it is not going to. in essence. blow up with so many people using it that you are going to use this amount of money. One Republican has suggested that the program goes to private lenders. Well. for every dollar that the HAMP program has paid out. homeowners have received from lenders $5 in reduced mortgage payments. Most of the program funds do not go to lenders but go directly to homeowners as incentives on the ontime mortgage payments. It is giving individuals a leg up. It is interesting that we would not want to focus on the best practices when. if you look at this map. you will see that every single State has received a HAMP impact. someone has a mortgage problem that the HAMP program has helped. Now. can we fix it? Yes. we can make it better. But let me tell you about a person by the name of Laurel. She indicated how this program has helped her. "Well. my income has not fully come back." She was unemployed. "I am making much less than I was making before. so it has been a difficult time. With the modification. my mortgage payment has gone down $800 and I am able to make my payment on time. I have been able to remain in the home that I love. and that has provided me with great stability. I am extremely grateful that I received the modification." She has saved an asset that contributes to the economy. What would be the result of ending the modification program? I can tell you what the result would be. The result would be that Laurel would dump another home onto the market that no one could buy. that would bring down the quality of the neighborhood and the house appraisal prices of the neighborhood and. therefore. add another dent to the economy. Invest and grow. And the question is. all of my friends who are there on the other side of the aisle. here is a document that is 15 pages long that shows that your district. your cities. have been impacted positively by the HAMP program. Job growth is picking up. Invest and grow jobs should be the mindset of the American Congress. for that is what we were sent back to Washington to do. There is no doubt that we have a collective commitment to bringing down the debt. There is a collective commitment to doing that. and we can look reasonably at what and how to do it. But when you dont even have the best practices or know why you are repealing something. and right now people are in the middle of addressing this question of modifying their mortgage. I ask my colleagues to support my amendment because it does in fact provide a lifeline. and it invests in the economy. creates jobs and stabilizes the middle class. With regard to the HAMP program. I would like say. "Mend it. dont end it!"