[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 190 (Wednesday, December 12, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15161-S15165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VETERANS TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY AND HEALTH PROGRAMS IMPROVEMENT ACT OF
2007 AND VETERANS' BENEFITS ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2007
Mr. DURBIN. Last month, Mr. President, I came to the floor and asked
unanimous consent for two bills from the Senate Veterans' Affairs
Committee--I did not ask that the bills be passed, only that they be
brought to the floor and considered. I talked to Senator Reid of Nevada
about this and wanted to give Senator Reid the option to determine the
amount of time in the debate, in consultation with the Republican
minority.
At that time, just as this morning, a Republican Senator--in that
case, Senator Larry Craig of Idaho--objected. Why? Well, they objected
because they did not want us to move to issues involving America's
veterans. I think our veterans deserve to have legislation such as the
bills I have asked to be considered.
The first of the two bills is the Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury and
Health Programs Improvement Act of 2007. That bill would allow 1.3
million middle-income veterans to enroll for VA health care and
increase the VA's beneficiary travel reimbursement rate--the first time
that travel reimbursement rate would be increased in 30 years--to help
veterans living in rural and remote areas.
There are programs, as well, for the treatment of veterans with
traumatic brain injuries, the signature injury of the Iraq war.
Finally, the bill provides aid for homeless veterans, which is
especially important at a time when one out of four homeless people you
see on the streets in America are veterans.
I asked that this bill be brought up, that we agree on a time limit,
consider it, and pass it.
Do you know how many speeches have been given on the floor of the
Senate by Members on both sides of the aisle about our devotion to our
soldiers, our men and women in uniform? Do you know how many speeches
have been given on this floor on both sides of the aisle about how much
we care and owe to our veterans? I am sure you could fill many
Congressional Records.
So if this job is about more than just speeches and is about doing
something to actually help our veterans, how could the Republicans
continue to object? Object to helping veterans make it to the VA
clinics and hospitals? Object to finding ways to eliminate homelessness
among veterans? Object to the idea of expanding medical care for
veterans who are the victims of traumatic brain injury?
If you want to vote against it, so be it. But to not even let us
bring the bill to the floor for consideration? They did.
The second bill is the Veterans' Benefits Enhancement Act. This
comprehensive legislation would improve
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benefits for all veterans, especially for those with disabilities, and
it would also correct a sad historical injustice for Filipino World War
II vets.
Again, I asked for unanimous consent. The Republicans objected.
However, if the Republican objections are based on substantive
provisions in the bill, then they should be all the more willing to
enter into the unanimous consent request I proposed last month and will
propose again today.
If we can limit amendments to those that are actually relevant to
veterans issues, it will give an opportunity for all Senators to come
to the floor and actually speak to an issue that means so much to our
soldiers, to our veterans, and all of their families.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate may proceed to
the consideration of Calendar No. 335, S. 1233, Veterans Traumatic
Brain Injury and Health Programs Improvement Act of 2007, at any time
determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the
Republican leader; that when the bill is considered, the only
amendments in order to the bill, other than the committee-reported
amendment, be first-degree amendments that are relevant to the subject
matter of the bill, and that they be subject to relevant second-degree
amendments; that upon the disposition of all amendments, the committee-
reported substitute amendment, as amended, if amended, be agreed to,
the bill, as amended, be read the third time, passed, and the motion to
reconsider be laid upon the table; that the title amendment be agreed
to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc; that
any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I
personally have no objection to the request, but there is objection by
Senator Coburn on our side. But I believe if the Senator would modify
the request to include a similar time agreement immediately following
the time agreement he has requested on this bill to debate and vote on
S. 2340, the troop funding bill, that we might be able to reach some
agreement. So I would ask him to modify his request to include that.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, without yielding the floor, would the
Senator from Texas yield for a question?
Mr. CORNYN. I would be happy to.
Mr. DURBIN. I would like to ask the Senator from Texas, did he attend
the meeting in room 407, the closed meeting, where Secretary Gates, the
Secretary of Defense, told us there was sufficient money in the current
appropriations bill for the Department of Defense to continue the war
in Iraq until at least the end of February or the middle of March so
that it was unnecessary to pass the bill, which you have just asked me
to consider, immediately?
Mr. CORNYN. Well, Mr. President, responding through the Chair, I
would say I did attend that meeting, at which time we were told that
civilian employees at the Department of Defense would, at about the
middle of December, receive a notice that they would be laid off just
prior to Christmas because of 60-day notice requirements, and that, in
fact, the military was only able to sustain the effort in Iraq fighting
al-Qaida--the same people who killed 3,000 Americans on September 11,
2001--by moving money from one account to another, causing a lot of
disruption, increased expense, and a lot of other problems.
I do not know why our colleagues on the other side of the aisle,
after having 63 votes on Iraq so far, attempting to propose surrender
dates and to countermand the orders of our generals in the field, are
resisting supporting our troops during a time of war. It is unthinkable
to me.
So I am sorry they are continuing to block this necessary funding for
our troops and putting 100,000 employees at the Department of Defense--
civilian employees--in jeopardy during the holiday season. But I was
there, and I did hear those comments, in addition to the comments I
have just added.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask for regular order at this point.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, there is objection by Senator Coburn on
our side. I asked for a modification, and I have not heard an objection
to that.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is the Senator from Texas raising
an objection?
Mr. CORNYN. I have asked the Senator to modify--I have asked
unanimous consent to modify his request to include a time agreement
debate, and a vote on S. 2340, the troop funding bill, as a
modification of his unanimous consent request.
Mr. DURBIN. I ask for regular order, Mr. President.
Mr. CORNYN. I have not heard an objection to that.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The pending request by the Senator
from Illinois is before us. Is there objection to that request?
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I see Senator Coburn on the floor. I
believe there is an objection on this side. Perhaps it is appropriate
to ask Senator Coburn to respond. But let me just say I believe we
could reach an agreement, a time agreement on both bills if the Senator
would consider modifying his request. Until we can have a chance to
discuss that further, there is objection on this side of the aisle.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois has asked
for regular order. Is there objection to his request?
Mr. CORNYN. There is an objection, as I explained.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard from the Senator
from Texas.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I would ask the Senator to----
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois has the
floor.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I will respond to the Senator from Texas,
as he is deserving of a response.
Look what has just happened. Senator Reid of Nevada has asked for a
registry for those in the United States afflicted with Lou Gehrig's
disease. He wants us to at least get the names and identities of people
who are dying from this disease so that we can start to find treatments
and cures. The objection came from the Republican side from Senator
Cornyn of Texas to a registry for patients suffering from Lou Gehrig's
disease because he insists that we have to also agree to go to a debate
on funding for the war in Iraq--$50, $60, $70 billion.
The Senator from Texas conceded my point that we were told by the
Secretary of Defense there is adequate money to continue this war until
the end of February or first of March. So to say we have to move to
this immediately is hardly a compelling argument when those are the
positions taken by the Secretary of Defense.
Then I came in with a request--my own unanimous consent request--to
go to a veterans bill to deal with traumatic brain injury, the
signature injury of this war in Iraq, and again the Senator from Texas,
saying he was speaking on behalf of the Senator from Oklahoma, Mr.
Coburn, objected to taking up this veterans legislation to provide
additional health care to deal with the homelessness problem among
veterans and to increase the travel rate for veterans living in remote
and rural areas who have to go to clinics and hospitals far from home.
I think it is pretty clear: Almost any excuse will do on the
Republican side of the aisle to object to moving to legislation. I am
going to give them one more chance.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent for 5 additional minutes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, one of the bills Republicans are stopping
is the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which I
cosponsored. This is one of the key civil rights bills of this
Congress, creating new positions at the Department of Justice in the
Civil Rights Division and in the FBI to strengthen the Government's
ability to investigate and prosecute race-based murders that took place
in our country before 1970 and which have gone unsolved. The bill would
also create a grant program for State and local prosecutors for
additional resources to pursue these heinous crimes.
The story of Emmett Till is a legend in America--and a sad legend. It
was one of the most infamous acts of racial
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violence in our Nation's history. A 14-year-old African American from
the city of Chicago, which I am honored to represent, was murdered in
1955 when he was visiting in Mississippi and allegedly flirted with a
White woman in a grocery store. His body was found floating in the
Tallahatchie River with a 70-pound gin mill fan tied to his neck with
barbed wire. Emmett Till's body was returned to Chicago, and his
mother, despite her grief, insisted that there be a public display of
his mutilated corpse. It was a transforming moment in American racial
history. Friends of mine who are African American said that was the
moment when they decided they couldn't take it anymore.
Emmett Till's killers were never brought to justice. They were
prosecuted and acquitted by an all-White jury. In a 1956 magazine
article, two men confessed to the murder. They said they had committed
the murder because they ``decided it was time a few people got put on
notice,'' in their words.
There were at least 114 race-related killings between 1952 and 1968,
and in many cases, no prosecutions, no convictions. In recent years,
there have been a handful of successful prosecutions, but time surely
is not on our side. These cases are old, and so are the defendants and
witnesses.
Congressman John Lewis, one of my personal heroes in Congress, is the
sponsor of this bill that the House passed by a rollcall vote of 422 to
2. Here is what he said about the bill:
The time has come. For the sake of history, for the sake of
justice, for the sake of closure, the 110th Congress must
pass this legislation.
The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act should not be
controversial. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed an identical
version by voice vote and no dissent. It has bipartisan support, 16
cosponsors, and authorizes $13.5 million a year but doesn't appropriate
it. It will have to go through the regular appropriations process.
At this time, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to
Calendar No. 237, H.R. 923, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime
Act, that the bill be read the third time and passed and the motion to
reconsider be laid on the table without intervening action or debate.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object. The Senator
from Illinois had the opportunity to fund this program fully with an
amendment he voted against that I offered on the Commerce-State-Justice
bill. The fact is that the Bush administration has already started work
on this; they have 30 active cases going now. The complaint was there
wasn't enough money. I offered an amendment, which the Senator from
Illinois--even the author in the Senate, Mr. Dodd, wasn't even here to
vote for--to fund at a level greater than what this bill authorizes.
Instead, we chose earmarks and pork instead of funding this bill. On
the basis of that--I also agree that we ought to be about this.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I will insist on regular order for only
one point. I would ask unanimous consent that if the Senator from
Oklahoma or the Senator from Texas wants to express his objection to a
unanimous consent request, that the time he uses in expressing his
objection be taken from the leader's time or from the time remaining
for the Republicans in morning business.
Mr. COBURN. I have no problem with that.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. COBURN. So on that basis, do we want to solve the crimes? Yes.
Did they have an opportunity to fund that? Yes. They chose not to. The
sponsors of the bill chose not to put the money in.
What they want is to play bait and switch. There is no question that
these should be adequately funded. The Bush administration started on
its own, initiated this program on its own in the Justice Department.
They had an opportunity to vote for the money to fund this. They
refused to do it--not an authorization, actual dollars. So on the basis
of that, I object.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I will close because I see other
colleagues on the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Was an objection made?
Mr. COBURN. I object.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I respect my colleague from Oklahoma.
There is one simple fact of legislative rule and law that he does not
express accurately. There is a world of difference between an
authorization and an appropriation. An authorization gives you
permission to ask for money to spend. The appropriations bill spends
the money. This is an authorization bill. It would have to go through
the regular appropriations process. What he refers to was an attempt at
appropriating money to the Department of Justice without enacting the
underlying law. It is totally different.
Again, for the third time this morning, the Republicans have
obstructed and stood in the way of bringing up legislation, first
Senator Cornyn of Texas on a registry for the victims of Lou Gehrig's
disease, then Senator Cornyn on behalf of Senator Coburn for a veterans
bill to deal with traumatic brain injury, and finally Senator Coburn of
Oklahoma objecting to considering even moving to a bill that would deal
with solving these civil rights crimes which so sadly reflect on a
period of American history that should be closed in the right way.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question?
Mr. SCHUMER. Addressed the Chair.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New York is
recognized.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise in support of my friend and
colleague from Illinois, as well as our leader, Senator Reid, about
what is going on here. This is unbelievable. What we have, in fact, is
the folks from the other side of the aisle are in disarray. Their basic
tenet and philosophy which govern them, which they use to govern, which
they have used to win elections starting with Ronald Reagan, is falling
apart. There is dissension in the Republican Party. There are different
wings all over the place. Most importantly, the Republican base which
says, basically, shrink Government, get rid of Government, is very far
away from where the American mainstream is--not just far away from
where Democrats are but far away from the mainstream.
But my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have nowhere to go.
They cannot put forward a positive program because their positive
program is out of date with the needs of 21st century America. So they
have come up with a strategy of obstruction: 57, 58, 59, and soon they
will set the record in numbers of filibusters--not just obstructing on
the most major of issues but on just about everything. Their view is:
We can block things and show we count. Well, the rules of the Senate
certainly allow them to block anything they want as long as they
prevent us from getting 60 votes. That is true, but that is hardly a
sign of strength. That is hardly a sign of resoluteness. It is a sign,
in my judgment, of weakness, of an inability to do anything positive,
and therefore a unity around just being negative.
In 1980, a lot of people felt Government was too big and out of
control. In 2008, with our health care system needing help, with our
education system needing help, with our energy policy in a shambles,
with our foreign policy--I heard my colleague from Texas mention
fighting al-Qaida. What percentage of the troops in Iraq are fighting
al-Qaida? We all know that is a misstatement of what is going on there.
The vast majority of those who are fighting are fighting in the war
between the Sunnis and the Shiites. So our present needs in America are
different. The world has been hit by a technological revolution. The
world has been hit by globalization.
In 2000, we sat astride the globe. We had a budget surplus. We had a
prosperous economy. We were respected in the world. Over the last 7
years, under the leadership of President Bush, that has been
squandered. That is not just Democrats speaking; that is America
speaking. Close to 70 percent of America thinks we are headed in the
wrong direction. A majority of not only Democrats but Independents and
a near majority of Republicans think we are headed in the wrong
direction. But my
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colleagues across the aisle, clinging to their base, narrower and
narrower, further and further away from the American mainstream and
what the American people want, have come up with a policy of
obstruction because they can't come up with anything else.
So we come to the floor and ask for reasonable debates on the major
issues facing us, whether it be weaning us away from oil and fossil
fuels, whether it be improving health care for children, whether it be
a change in course in Iraq, which the vast majority of America demands,
and they block it, and then they block it again, and then they block it
again. My good colleagues from Illinois and from Nevada even brought up
the most noncontroversial bill: a registry on ALS. My uncle, who was a
well-known obstetrician, the head of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital's
Department of Obstetrics, died of ALS. I care about this. I watched him
waste away. They blocked that too.
This strategy, which creates a feeling of false strength among my
colleagues on the other side of the aisle, is doomed to failure. This
strategy, I predict, will help create the demise of even the large
minority they have right now.
There will be a Democratic nominee; there will be a Presidential
campaign in the summer and the fall. That Presidential Democratic
nominee, whoever she or he may be, will be campaigning and saying we
need change. We cannot get change unless we increase the number of
people who want change in the Senate. Senator X and Senator Y and
Senator Z on the other side of the aisle have stood in the way of
change, and they will continue to. So put in a new Senator who will
vote for change. My Republican colleagues are filibustering themselves
out of their seats come 2008. This strategy--short term, narrow, and
shortsighted--will not stand because the American people demand change.
I want to talk about one area I have been asked to talk about, the
subprime loan crisis. I have said time and time again we need to do
something about this crisis. I have been talking about it for a long
time. The Bush administration and Senate Republicans have ideological
handcuffs on: Government should not be involved, no matter what. If
hundreds of thousands of innocent people are losing their homes, no
Government. If our financial markets are shaking and quaking, no
Government. If housing prices are going down for the first time across
America so that even if you fully paid your mortgage, you are suffering
from this subprime crisis, no Government, no matter what, no matter the
consequences.
Guess what that sounds like. It sounds like the Republican platform
of the 1890s or 1920s. I thought we had learned something since then.
Government is not the only answer, and it probably should not even be
the first answer, in most instances, but it is often the only answer.
What we have seen is this administration comes up with the sort of
plans and schemes that twist themselves into a pretzel to try to say
they are helping with this crisis and avoiding any Government
involvement. It hasn't worked. Confidence in our credit markets
declines. The number of foreclosures goes up. Housing prices continue
to go down. The shame of it all is there are simple solutions.
Mr. CORNYN. Will the Senator yield for a question?
Mr. SCHUMER. I will be happy to yield when I finish my remarks.
Now here is what we Democrats are asking for: commonsense solutions,
designed to help people save their homes at an absolute minimum cost,
designed to curtail the drop in housing prices, designed to restore the
faith that Americans, investors, and world investors have in our credit
market.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for an additional
5 minutes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. SCHUMER. We are not asking for a bailout; far from it. We are
asking for simple things. The simplest thing passed the House with a
large number of Republican votes, and it is FHA modernization.
President Bush is for FHA modernization. Secretary Paulson came and met
with the Finance Committee last week, with Democrats and Republicans--
Senator Baucus and Senator Grassley were there--and urged us to pass
FHA modernization. I haven't heard what the objection is, because FHA
modernization passed the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee
in the Senate by a vote of 20 to 1. We sought to pass the bill on the
floor and Senate Republicans objected on November 15. On December 6, we
tried again, and again the legislation was blocked. What has happened
since November 15 and today, about a month later? Hundreds, probably a
hundred thousand, certainly tens of thousands more homes have gone into
foreclosure, housing prices have declined further, credit markets are
shaky, and the plan that the administration came up with, which
assiduously, ideologically, and narrowly avoided any Government
involvement, has been widely discredited and has brought no confidence
in the credit market. The President's program became even more critical
yesterday--the need for the FHA modernization--when it was revealed
that the administration's signature subprime program, FHA Secure,
activated in November--guess how many borrowers it helped. Hundreds of
thousands? Tens of thousands? Thousands? No. It helped 541, when we are
expecting 2 million foreclosures in the next 2 years. Helping only a
few hundred families and saying you are doing something is
incomprehensible.
I hope we will move this FHA legislation. As I said, it is supported
by the President and by Secretary Paulson. It is the mildest of
measures. It can't be too bad if President Bush is for it. That is not
my view, but I am trying to perhaps win over some of my colleagues on
the other side of the aisle. This FHA modernization will help in a
small way. We have to do other things. The bill Senator Brown, Senator
Casey, and I have put in the appropriations bill, with Senator Murray's
help, for $200 million to help families get out of foreclosure makes
sense. Congressman Frank and I have a bill to help Fannie and Freddie
to help with the foreclosures, which is legislation that is needed as
well. But at least this is a first step. Yes, it is Government, and if
you are a hard right ideologue, I guess you say the ideological purity
of keeping Government away from everything is more important than
helping innocent victims keep their homes, more important than keeping
housing prices stable, more important than keeping our credit markets
in good shape.
I hope my colleagues will join me. I hope so for the good of the
country, even though I believe, frankly, politically they are marching
down a path to oblivion and in the longer run it will help us get a
better Senate to get things done--things that the American people
demand.
At this point, I make a plea to my colleagues that this rather
noncontroversial--if you judge by the breadth of its support--
legislation goes through on FHA modernization.
I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate
consideration of Calendar No. 481, S. 2338, the FHA Modernization Act
of 2007; that the Dodd-Shelby amendment at the desk be considered and
agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read the third time and passed;
that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any
statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: Under the rules of
the Senate, when we ask for unanimous consent, as has just been asked,
are we not saying we will not debate the bill, we will not offer the
bill for amendments, and that we will take the bill as it is?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The issue is what is specified
under the request.
Mr. COBURN. Which is not to debate the bill and not allow the bill to
be amended. I will be happy to discuss my objections to the bill. They
are small and deal with reverse mortgages, not conventional FHA, or the
increased cap or the lower downpayment. I am working hard to try to
resolve that so we do not hold up this bill.
Mr. SCHUMER. Will my colleague yield for a question?
Mr. COBURN. I am happy to.
Mr. SCHUMER. Would my colleague be willing to support a provision to
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have a time limit on debate on this bill, with amendments limited to
the substance of the bill so we can get the bill done?
Mr. COBURN. Yes.
Mr. SCHUMER. Let me discuss that with my colleague and maybe we can
move the bill. We are in the closing weeks of the session, so maybe we
can agree to a reasonable time limit and reasonable amendments.
Mr. COBURN. I have no objection to that.
Mr. SCHUMER. I withdraw my unanimous consent request temporarily so I
may discuss things with my colleague from Oklahoma.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, the request is
withdrawn. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. CORNYN. The Senator from New York said he would yield to me at
the end of his statement.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The time of the Senator from New
York has expired.
The Senator from Ohio is recognized.
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Coburn for his cooperation
on an important issue with Senator Schumer, something this body needs
to move on. I thank both Senator Schumer and Senator Coburn. I wanted
to talk about the same issue this morning for 5 or 6 minutes.
Thousands and thousands of families in Ohio are struggling to keep a
roof over their heads during the upcoming Christmas season. My State
has been in the grip of a mortgage crisis at some level for years,
which shows no signs of letting up. Ohio is faced with one of the
highest foreclosure rates in the country. Our largest cities are being
particularly hit hard. Ohio's six biggest cities are among the 30
hardest hit in the Nation. It looks as if things may get worse before
they get better.
What we do in Washington, or what we fail to do here, will have a
profound effect on families in Akron, Cincinnati, Toledo, Columbus, and
Cleveland. It is not just my State's largest cities; it is Portsmouth,
Lima, and my hometown of Mansfield, Zanesville, Ravenna, and Marion.
Every day, over 200 families in Ohio lose their homes.
A month ago, the majority leader, Senator Reid, sought to bring up a
bill that would modernize the FHA home loan program. Our colleagues on
the other side objected, claiming they had not had sufficient time to
read the bill. Mind you, this wasn't a bill written in secret. It
passed out of the Banking Committee 20 to 1 in September after a long
process that fully involved the ranking member, Senator Shelby, a
Republican of Alabama, and all of my colleagues on the Banking
Committee.
By making improvements in the FHA program, more families would be
able to refinance out of their unaffordable subprime loans and into
fair, more equitable, and affordable FHA loans. As the Wall Street
Journal found in an analysis published last week, many subprime
borrowers had pretty good credit when they took out their loans. Many
should have been in conventional loans, but in too many cases they were
steered into higher priced loans, loans more profitable for the
mortgage broker, but more costly, and ultimately disastrously so, for
far too many borrowers, new homeowners. Many of them should be able to
take out FHA loans that won't have those exploding adjustable rates.
We all went home for Thanksgiving, and when we came back, Senator
Reid tried again, and again our Republican colleagues objected.
President Bush announced last week a plan that may help a small slice
of the population. He called on Congress to adopt FHA reform. Good for
him. But what he needs to do is call on his fellow Republicans to stop
obstructing every single attempt we have tried to help homeowners in
Ohio and across the country. There may be progress today in the
conversation between Senators Schumer and Coburn. That is our hope.
Most of the people who work in the mortgage industry have their
clients' best interests at heart. They rely on repeat business and
word-of-mouth advertising. But as the industry has evolved, it seems as
though more and more market participants are acting in ways that are at
odds with their clients' interests, all for short-term and sometimes
huge profits.
Some mortgage brokers have chosen to prey on the most vulnerable--the
poor, the elderly, and the family one paycheck away from disaster.
Their conduct is unforgivable.
Borrowers who may not have been particularly sophisticated when they
took out a loan are very likely going to be unfamiliar with how to
navigate their way out of a bad situation. They are going to need a lot
of help, and the network of nonprofit organizations across the country
is going to be of vital importance in providing that help. Congress
approved $200 million. Senator Schumer and Senator Casey and I worked
to put that money into the legislation to provide this help. But the
President has threatened to veto that legislation.
We also need to do what we can to prevent the situation from getting
worse. Mortgage brokers and originators have to exercise care in how
they do business. At a bare minimum, they should be sure a borrower can
repay a loan, and they need to do so based on real verification rather
than a wink and a nod.
Nobody is doing anybody a favor by convincing them to take out a loan
that will become unaffordable in 2 or 3 years, or that doesn't include
the payment of taxes and insurance.
No longer should the dreams of Ohioans and new homeowners across the
country fall victim to the fine print. No longer should Congress turn a
blind eye to the despicable practices that victimize our neighbors and
our communities because foreclosure in one house affects the homes all
over that neighborhood.
We have tried to provide tax relief to people who have had some of
their mortgages forgiven by their lender when they sell their house for
less than their outstanding loan. Right now, any amount of debt
forgiven is considered income, slapping additional tax burden on a
family who has gone through the trauma of losing their home.
But that provision is imperiled by end-of-year obstructionism as
well. Not one Republican supported Senator Reid's effort to force an
end to the Republican filibuster of the tax bill that included this
provision.
Everything we have tried to do to help homeowners--from counseling
funds, to FHA reform, to tax relief--has been blocked by Republicans.
If President Bush is serious about helping homeowners, he will bring
this to an end. The people of Ohio have waited too long for relief.
They need our help. They need it now.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maryland is
recognized.
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