[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 150 (Thursday, December 7, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11680-S11681]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      AMERICAN HOMEOWNERSHIP AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2000

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of H.R. 5640, which is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 5640) to expand homeownership in the United 
     States, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President. I am pleased to see that we are passing 
this bipartisan piece of housing legislation today. While there are 
provisions that were not included in the bill, which I thought were 
worthy of passage, on the whole, the ``American Homeownership and 
Economic Opportunity Act of 2000'' is a bill that should become law. I 
would like to highlight just a few parts of this legislation that we 
worked particularly hard on over the last two years.
  First is the manufactured housing bill, that has been incorporated 
into this legislation. This bill establishes a national minimum 
installation standard for manufactured homes, ensuring that the home as 
installed performs as advertised. We have created a dispute resolution 
program, so that owners, many of whom are lower-income, are not 
mistreated when they are trying to have a defect in their home 
corrected. This bill also updates the safety standard setting process 
for the manufactured housing industry, which will allow new innovations 
in technology to be incorporated into homes more quickly, making them 
safer, more efficient, and cheaper for homeowners. Passage of this 
portion of the bill would not have been possible without the help of 
Senators Kerry, Edwards, Bayh, and Shelby, and their respective staff, 
namely Lendell Porterfield and Josh Stein. I would like to thank all of 
these individuals for their contributions throughout the process of 
writing, negotiating, and passing this legislation.
  I also want to associate myself with the remarks made by Chairman 
Leach and Congressman Frank in the House of Representatives on October 
24, 2000 regarding the contracting language in this bill. Their 
colloquy clarified the intention of this section.
  The legislation includes language taken from S. 2733 designed to 
increase the supply of low-income elderly and disabled housing by 
expanding available capital for such projects. We allow service 
providers in federally assisted elderly and disabled facilities to 
include eligible residents in the surrounding neighborhood in their 
programs, expanding their service to the community as a whole.
  In addition, there are provisions which will allow Rural Housing 
Service to refinance guaranteed loans, reducing costs for low income 
rural homeowners, and a new program to expand housing opportunities to 
Native Hawaiians and Native Americans. Both of these changes will make 
a big difference in the lives of low income families.
  Finally, the legislation reauthorizes a number of agency reports 
under the jurisdiction of the Banking Committee which would otherwise 
have expired this year. These reports include the Federal Reserve's 
Semiannual Report on Monetary Policy, the Economic Report of the 
President, the annual reports of the federal financial regulatory 
agencies, and a number of other significant reports in the area of 
consumer protection. These reports are vital to the exercise of the 
Banking Committee's oversight function, and I am very pleased that the 
House and the Senate were able to reach agreement on their 
reauthorization.
  I reiterate my approval for the substance of this bill. I am glad to 
see us pass these portions of different pieces of legislation this 
session, though I regret that a low-income housing production program 
was not included.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, there is much to applaud in the bill we are 
taking up today, H.R. 5640, ``The American Homeownership and Economic 
Opportunity Act.'' I note that this legislation is identical to 
legislation I have cosponsored, S. 3274.
  Some of the provisions of H.R. 5640 are contained in bipartisan 
legislation, S. 2733, which I have introduced with my colleagues 
Senator Santorum, Senator Sarbanes, and others. These are designed to 
increase the stock of affordable housing for elderly and disabled 
Americans by expanding the pool of available capital. It will also 
expand the availability of services to help improve the quality of life 
for elderly and residents of HUD-assisted properties and other eligible 
people in the neighborhood.
  The legislation also includes important reforms to the manufactured 
housing statute. These reforms provide significant new consumer 
protections for owners of manufactured homes. For example, the bill 
creates national minimum installation standards to make sure 
manufactured homes are not just manufactured correctly--an area that 
has long been under federal control--but that they are installed 
properly and perform as advertised to provide high quality, safe, 
durable, and affordable housing for their occupants.
  In addition, the new law establishes a dispute resolution process 
which, for the first time, will enable a consumer determine whether a 
problem with a manufactured home is due to a manufacturing or 
installation defect, and then get the defect corrected.
  Overall, the manufactured housing title of this bill will modernize 
the regulatory structure for the industry in a way that gives consumers 
a full and equal voice. Such modernization will help the industry 
incorporate new technologies more quickly, making this housing more 
efficient, more attractive, safer, and cheaper. Manufactured housing 
can and should be a bigger part of this nation's effort to address the 
rising need for affordable housing. This legislation will help make 
this a reality.
  I also concur with remarks made in the House of Representatives by 
Chairman Leach and Representatives LaFalce and Frank in the House on 
October 24, 2000, regarding the issue of contracting out certain 
monitoring and oversight functions required by the legislation. HUD 
needs to be able to manage these contracts in a way that allows them to 
get the work done.
  Finally, I thank Senator Shelby for his leadership on this issue. 
Senator Shelby deserves great credit for making this legislation 
possible. He worked through every issue and concern raised by the 
various parties to make this day possible. I also thank Lendell 
Porterfield from the staff of Senator Shelby. Mr. Porterfield was 
highly professional and extremely knowledgeable. He provided the 
leadership at a staff level that enabled this bill to become law. In 
addition, Senator Edwards and his staff, Josh Stein, were instrumental 
in negotiating the final compromise. They ensured that the interests of 
consumers were balanced with the needs of industry. Likewise, the 
leadership of Senator Sarbanes and his staff helped ensure that this 
process would continue to be bipartisan and productive. Senator Bayh 
also played an important role. I want to make a special note of the 
work of Christen Schaefer of the Banking Committee staff, without whose 
hard work and dedication this legislation could not become law.

[[Page S11681]]

  There are many other solid achievements in this legislation that will 
improve housing opportunities for many Americans.
  However, as much as there is to welcome in this bill, it is as 
notable for what is missing. Most importantly, this bill does not 
include any of the numerous bipartisan proposals, some of which passed 
the House with overwhelming majorities, that would provide for the 
preservation of existing affordable housing that is fast being lost; 
nor does it include any of the bipartisan proposals to facilitate the 
construction of new affordable housing. In particular, I very much 
regret the exclusion of the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund 
legislation that I introduced with a number of my colleagues from both 
sides of the aisle. Finally, it does not include some important 
provisions that would encourage and support homeownership, such as low 
downpayment FHA loans for teachers, police officers, and other 
municipal employees.
  Everyone who has looked at the issue of housing with an open mind, or 
has tried to purchase or rent a home, understands that we face an 
affordable housing crisis. A recent study issued by the National Low 
Income Housing Coalition highlights the fact that there is no city, 
county, or state where a minimum wage job is adequate to enable a 
working person to afford the typical rent on 2 bedroom home. In tight 
markets such as Boston, New York, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Austin, 
San Francisco, and many others around the country, affordable housing 
is out of reach to average working families.
  The Federal Government has an important role to play here, and I will 
be working very hard in the upcoming Congress to make sure that we pass 
new legislation, such as my trust fund legislation, that will get the 
Government back in the business of encouraging the production of new 
affordable housing.
  I support the legislation before us, and I hope that my colleagues 
will join me in the coming Congress to complete the effort we have 
begun here today.
  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, today the Senate is taking up H.R. 5640, 
the American Homeownership and Economic Opportunity Act, which was 
passed by the House of Representatives on December 5, 2000. Companion 
legislation, sponsored by Senator Allard and myself, together with 
Senators Sarbanes, Santorum, Grams, Shelby, Campbell, and Kerry, was 
introduced on December 5. This legislation is the product of bipartisan 
work and negotiations in both bodies, and I urge the Senate to pass 
this bill today.
  As Chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, I 
have had the privilege of working closely with Housing and 
Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Allard and want to express my 
appreciation for his strong leadership and commend him for the 
successful stewardship of this legislation.
  The legislation we are considering today will improve and modernize a 
variety of federal housing programs. The proposed changes to our 
nation's housing laws will increase the efficiencies of subsidized 
housing programs and provide that a greater number of truly needy 
Americans may be assisted at no greater cost to the American taxpayer.
  I am particularly pleased that this legislation includes the 
Manufactured Housing Improvement Act--signifying a cooperative product 
involving input from industry and other interested parties that 
successfully ends a 10-year legislative stalemate. The bill modernizes 
the requirements of the National Manufactured Housing Construction and 
Safety Standards Act of 1974, a 26 year-old statute in serious need of 
revision. Manufactured housing reform is of great importance to the 
State of Texas, which leads the Nation in the production and sale of 
manufactured homes. Across America, manufactured homes are a 
significant source of affordable housing--representing 25 percent of 
all new single-family housing starts. I also want to give special 
thanks to Senator Shelby, the original lead sponsor of the manufactured 
housing bill, who has worked tirelessly over the years for its passage. 
Without Senator Shelby's dedication and perseverance, the Manufactured 
Housing Improvement Act title of this bill would not be before the 
Senate for consideration today.
  The American Homeownership and Economic Opportunity Act contains many 
other significant housing provisions, including modernization of the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development's, HUD, Section 202 elderly 
housing and Section 811 disabled housing programs; the Department of 
Agriculture's rural housing programs; HUD Native American housing 
programs; and the HUD home equity conversion mortgage program, which 
allows our cash-poor but house-rich senior citizens the opportunity to 
utilize their home equity for needed expenses.
  This legislation also renews some 45 reporting requirements of 
Executive Branch and regulatory agencies, including the report of the 
Federal Reserve Board on the conduct of monetary policy.
  H.R. 5640 directs that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve appear 
before the Congress twice annually, once in February and again in July, 
to report on the Federal Reserve's activities with respect to the 
conduct of monetary policy and its outlook regarding economic 
developments and prospects in the future. This legislation eliminates 
the requirement of the Federal Reserve to report on many of the 
outdated economic indicators required in the past, such as measures of 
money supply that are no longer useful.
  Among other reports reinstated in this legislation are the Annual 
Economic Report of the President and annual reports from numerous 
banking and housing agencies, including the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the 
Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, Federal 
Housing Finance Board, and National Credit Union Administration. All of 
these reports are important in helping Congress conduct its 
constitutional oversight responsibilities and ensuring that agencies 
and departments are ultimately accountable to the American taxpayer.
  Mr. President, these are but a few of the highlights of the important 
provisions in H.R. 5640. I am grateful to my colleagues on both sides 
of the aisle, both in the Senate and the House, in crafting this 
compromise legislation. In particular, I would like to note the 
extensive cooperation of Senators Sarbanes and Kerry in working out 
many of the provisions of this bill. I urge adoption of the bill by the 
Senate.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 5640) was read the third time and passed.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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