Date: 2011-03-10
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I am very sorry that Congresswoman MALONEYs amendment was subject to a point of order. I would like to simply add that you need to put faces on what this legislation is doing. It is a simple act. It guts and eliminates all remaining funding. It does say that if you are in the midst of the program you might continue. But everyone knows how solid FHA is. Whenever you hear FHA. you know that there is a framework that really provides for protection for the Federal Government and a fiscally responsible program that provides the Federal Government with protection for those who are able to utilize it. But even traveling through airports. Mr. Chairman. I had a man with a family who indicated that in the midst of the holiday season. even though he had been told by the banking institution that his mortgage was intact. they would allow him to continue to pay. he was keeping up but having difficulty looking for modification. a few days into the new year. January 6. he was foreclosed on. and a few days later. or at least on that day foreclosed with a sign or a notice on his door. "Vacate in 3 days." These are the faces of individuals who probably would have fared better under FHA. At the same time. a law enforcement. a police officer came to me and said the very same thing. naming an institution that I had never heard of. had no national standing. some flybynight. Here is a law enforcement officer. a local police officer putting his life on the line every day. and he needed to sell his home. He had managed to find a buyer. He had communicated that to the bank. But lo and behold. the lowlife thing to do was what this financial institution did. And I would call it not a bank. but probably a mortgage entity. They took the house right from underneath a man that goes out every day and projects himself into the community and could lay his life on the line. I am against H.R. 830 and H.R. 836. It doesnt make sense when weve got hundreds of thousands of individuals who are in need of this program. I will venture to say that if a program needs fixing. have we ever heard of fix it. dont end it? Mend it. dont end it? Of course it is always important to do due diligence and have oversight over these programs. But I would think that the Financial Services Committee. under our past chairman and now the ranking member. working with the chairman now. could come up with the genius to make FHA work better if that is the case. But the nonsensical plan of eliminating it. not helping the underwater mortgagees. the individuals who have these mortgages. with homes that are distressed. with mortgages that are worth more than the homeswe know there are many communities like this. and my colleague mentioned some. but let me cite three States again because its so enormous. and we have heard so much from them: Florida. 2 million. California. 2 million. Nevada. 390.000. They are still in distress. Everyone knows that the housing market has a lot to do with this economy. And even without the help of my good friends on the other side of the aisle. we still saw the unemployment go down and 192.000 jobs created. But I can tell you that this does nothing to create jobs. It simply puts Americans out on the street. It devastates families. And who knows. with the lack of sales of homes and remodification or modification of these. it puts people out of work. not in work. So I argue vigorously. a little too late on the gentleladys amendment. but I want to thank her for her astuteness. carefully defining what impact this bill would have. And its unfortunate that the good work of FHA that requires documentation. a current job. a decent salary. all that is needed is 123.296.971.453 15.110.042.318 96.433.987.107 64.615.194.340 52.451.766.148 12.466.587.220 157.374.112.184 27.476.946.523 16.869.044.604 15.694.459.446 15.213.823.107 NA NA 135.299.742.043 216.991.083.513 28.796.060.168 43.113.352.399 NA 39.289.897.107 11.275.884.120 9.542.319.517 19.351.702.379 16.136.930.126 262.461.167.077 18.458.200.728 419.359.988.558 94.389.782.245 3.323.940.596 81.996.170.600 17.587.925.837 56.141.733.601 152.081.094.169 24.721.190.946 38.904.624.049 NA 48.452.912.712 183.467.371.691 30.276.086.885 NA 123.577.472.892 149.383.580.443 20.303.372.822 NA 39.476.871.722 NA now thrown to the wolves with no other plan. So we go home. and constituents will ask us about modification or the viability of FHA. which has been in place for a long period of time. All we have to do is give them our empty hands and our blank face. saying obviously greater minds than you. who knew this was a good program. decided to eliminate it with no substitute in place. So Mr. Chairman. let me conclude by simply saying to the hundreds of thousands of borrowers. have faith. because this is only the first step. We know this is wrongheaded. the wrong direction. Thank goodness for the Founding Fathers that gave us the House and the Senate and a President. I can be assured that this legislation. I hope. is destined for a route of no return.