[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 138 (Saturday, October 28, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      AMERICAN HOMEOWNERSHIP AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2000

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                               speech of

                          HON. SPENCER BACHUS

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 24, 2000

  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend Chairman Leach and 
Mr. Lazio, and my colleagues on the House Banking Committee for their 
tireless work on moving legislation that brings some much-needed 
reforms to the overall housing industry. S. 1452 will enhance home 
ownership throughout the country.
  Furthermore, I am pleased to see that many provisions of H.R. 1776, 
the Housing and Economic Opportunity Act, have been included in the S. 
1452. As my colleagues may remember, H.R. 1776 passed our chamber 
earlier in the year by an overwhelming and bipartisan vote of 417 to 8. 
However, there is one particular omission that concerns me. 
Unfortunately, this omission may ultimately have an impact on the 
number of families who will realize the American Dream of 
homeownership.
  The provision that has been omitted from S. 1452 is Section 102 of 
H.R. 1776. Section 102 requires that the Federal government perform a 
housing impact analysis before it issues new regulations. The impact 
analysis would determine if a significant negative impact on affordable 
housing would result from those new regulations. ``Significant'' would 
be defined as increasing consumers' cost of housing by more than 
$100,000,000 per year.
  Further, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1776 stipulates that the private sector 
would have an opportunity to submit an alternative to the proposed 
regulation if it would have less of a negative impact on the cost of 
homeownership. As with the other provisions in Title I of H.R. 1776, 
the goal of the housing impact analysis is to alert federal agencies 
and the general public of the impact of regulation on housing 
affordability.
  Ultimately, the objective would be to help bring down the cost of a 
home by minimizing regulations that pose a barrier to homeownership. 
The housing impact analysis addresses this issue by requiring the 
Federal government to perform an ``internal check'' of sorts in a quest 
to see if the regulation might be constructed in a better way that 
would not lock some individuals out of homeownership.
  I see this internal check as a positive action, Mr. Speaker, and I am 
concerned that this worthy provision, a provision 417 of my colleagues 
supported, was left out of the legislation that comes before us today. 
I hope that this concept does not die with the closing of the 106th 
Congress, but is reviewed again next year, with the commencement of the 
107th.

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