[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 181 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 181

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the States 
      should enact a temporary moratorium on residential mortgage 
                             foreclosures.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 23, 2009

 Ms. Kaptur submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the States 
      should enact a temporary moratorium on residential mortgage 
                             foreclosures.

Whereas nearly 3,600,000 jobs have been lost in the United States in the past 13 
        months;
Whereas in January 2009 the unemployment rate jumped to 7.6 percent and the 
        National Conference of State Legislatures reported that 7 States have 
        already exhausted their unemployment insurance trust funds and another 
        11 States may experience the same by the end of 2009;
Whereas the Director of the Congressional Budget Office testified as follows in 
        a Senate hearing on January 28, 2009: ``Challenging conditions seem 
        likely to persist for some time in the housing and mortgage markets as 
        well. Housing sales remain weak, and construction activity continues to 
        decline. With the housing market's large glut of vacant properties, the 
        prices of homes are likely to fall considerably further, pushing the 
        value of more borrowers' homes below the value of their outstanding 
        mortgages. As more of those `underwater' borrowers experience losses of 
        income during the current recession, rates of delinquency and 
        foreclosure on residential mortgage loans are likely to rise further.'';
Whereas the current economic situation began to unfold some time ago and, in 
        fact, the Federal Reserve first began to supply additional liquidity to 
        credit markets in August 2007, as pressures from losses on mortgage-
        related assets unexpectedly began to mount;
Whereas many economists today believe that at the crux of our Nation's financial 
        crisis, and a key component to overcoming this crisis, is the Nation's 
        housing markets, not ignoring the necessary changes for our Nation's 
        financial markets;
Whereas the intent of the Troubled Assets Relief Program of the Department of 
        the Treasury, established by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 
        2008 (Public Law 110-343; 12 U.S.C. 5211 et seq.), was to, in large 
        portion, purchase troubled assets, including securitized mortgages, and 
        to enable banks and other lenders engaged in the mortgage market to 
        engage in mortgage modifications, loan workouts, and other processes 
        designed to stem off the ever-rising tide of foreclosures, and that has 
        not happened to the level necessary to stem the tide of foreclosures and 
        it continues;
Whereas, according to the Center for Responsible Lending, there are 6,600 new 
        foreclosures each day, which is approximately one new foreclosure every 
        13 seconds;
Whereas it is projected that there could be as many as 2,400,000 foreclosures in 
        the United States before the end of 2009, along with double-digit 
        unemployment;
Whereas although the United States is not experiencing a depression, we are in 
        housing situation that is similar in nature, where homeowners' mortgage 
        balances are larger than the current value of their homes and where 
        people are losing their homes at an accelerating rate;
Whereas during the Great Depression, the State of Minnesota declared an economic 
        emergency, and enacted a law granting relief in certain cases, ``for 
        inequitable foreclosure of mortgages on real estate and execution sales 
        and for postponing certain others'' (Chapter 339, Laws of Minnesota, 
        1933, page 514);
Whereas the Minnesota statute included provisions that postponed foreclosure 
        sales or extended mortgage redemption, as well as taking actions 
        relating to the jurisdiction of such activities, and the Minnesota 
        statute established a hard and fast deadline of when such relief would 
        end, making the Act temporary in nature;
Whereas this law was challenged in the case Home Building & Loan Association v. 
        Blaisdell, which was argued before the United States Supreme Court in 
        1933, with the Court ruling in 1934 in favor of the Minnesota law;
Whereas there are clear challenges to implementing a nationwide moratorium on 
        mortgage foreclosures, yet this case tells us that the States can take 
        action using the police power of the State; and
Whereas in this time of emergency, with unemployment at 7.6 percent for January 
        2009, a financial system in disarray also affecting world markets, a 
        market that is not yet stabilizing, and our Nation's citizens struggling 
        to find work and maintain housing and nutrition, it is time that the 
        Nation, through the action of the President of the United States, 
        declare a national foreclosure emergency and State by State, seek to end 
        the foreclosure crisis: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the President of the United States should declare a 
        national residential mortgage foreclosure emergency and, 
        through such declaration, encourage the States, by use of their 
        police power, to enact a moratorium on residential mortgage 
        foreclosures similar to the moratorium enacted by the State of 
        Minnesota in 1933 and upheld by the Supreme Court of the United 
        States in Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell (290 
        U.S. 398 (1934)); and
            (2) the States should exercise such power and enact such a 
        moratorium.
                                 <all>