[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 167 (Wednesday, December 21, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S14408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             VOLUNTARY MORTGAGE PAYMENT FORBEARANCE PERIOD

  Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the 
immediate consideration of S. Res. 347, submitted earlier today by 
Senator Landrieu.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 347) expressing the sense of the 
     Senate that lenders holding mortgages on homes in communities 
     of the Gulf Coast devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita 
     should extend current voluntary mortgage payment forbearance 
     periods and not foreclose on properties in those communities.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the 
preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, 
and any statements related to the resolution be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 347) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, is as follows:

                              S. Res. 347

       Whereas the Gulf Coast of the United States has experienced 
     1 of the worst hurricane seasons on record;
       Whereas Hurricane Katrina and multiple levee breaks 
     destroyed an estimated 275,000 homes in the Gulf Coast;
       Whereas 20,664 businesses in the Gulf Coast sustained 
     catastrophic damage from Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane 
     Rita;
       Whereas, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis at 
     the Department of Commerce, personal income has fallen more 
     than 25 percent in Louisiana in the third quarter of 2005;
       Whereas, in the time since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and 
     Wilma, the Small Business Administration has only approved 20 
     percent of disaster loan applications for homeowners in the 
     Gulf Coast and has a backlog of more than 176,000 
     applications for this assistance as of December 21, 2005;
       Whereas, of the 20,741 homeowner disaster loan applications 
     that have been approved in the Gulf Coast by the Small 
     Business Administration, only 1,444 have been fully 
     disbursed;
       Whereas, in response to these circumstances, commercial 
     banks, mortgage banks, credit unions, and other mortgage 
     lenders voluntarily instituted 90-day loan forbearance 
     periods after Hurricane Katrina and did not require home 
     owners in the Gulf Coast to make mortgage payments until on 
     or about December 1, 2005;
       Whereas, after the termination of the 90-day forbearance 
     period, many home and business owners have received notice 
     from their lenders that they face foreclosure unless they 
     make a lump sum balloon payment in the amount of the mortgage 
     payments previously subject to forbearance; and
       Whereas foreclosure on homes and businesses in the Gulf 
     Coast will have a detrimental impact on the economy of the 
     area, will deprive property owners of their equity at a time 
     when they can least afford it, and will have a negative 
     impact on lenders who will be holding properties that may not 
     be readily marketable on the open market: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) Congress should act early in the second session of the 
     109th Congress to consider legislation to provide relief to 
     homeowners in the Gulf Coast; and
       (2) commercial banks, mortgage banks, credit unions, and 
     other mortgage lenders should extend mortgage payment 
     forbearance to March 31, 2006, in order to allow Congress the 
     time to consider such legislation.

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