[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 192 (Friday, December 14, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15642-S15643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              MORTGAGE FORGIVENESS DEBT RELIEF ACT OF 2007

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent the 
Committee on Finance be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 
3648, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 3648) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986 to exclude discharges of indebtedness on principal 
     residences from gross income, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third 
time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and 
any statements relating to the measure be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 3856), in the nature of a substitute, was agreed 
to, as follows:
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a 
third time.
  The bill (H.R. 3648), as amended, was read the third time and passed.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, this is a very important measure we have 
adopted in the Senate. In fact, today is a very important day for 
families all across the United States who find themselves in this 
mortgage crisis that we have been hearing about, that we have been 
talking about, that we have been meeting about. Two important actions 
have taken place that will make a real difference in people's lives 
today. The first was, earlier today, modernization of the Federal 
Housing Authority, the FHA.
  This had not been updated since the 1930s when people were in another 
time of tremendous crisis, losing their homes.
  We have come together today and put forward modernization that will 
allow more people to be able to get refinancing, to be able to get help 
and support from the FHA, to be able to keep their homes. That is what 
we all want, the American dream of keeping our homes, of making sure 
our families have a roof over their head, that we can invest in equity 
in a home as part of creating that middle-class dream for ourselves, 
for our families, and it is how we strengthen the community when we 
have home ownership.
  That is an important piece, and we just adopted the other piece that 
is very significant, particularly time-sensitive, and that is to make 
sure that no one who finds themselves in a mortgage foreclosure this 
year, in 2007, or finds themselves having to refinance their home below 
the value of their mortgage or through a short sale find themselves in 
a situation where, on top of losing their home or losing money, they 
have another tax bill.
  Right now, up until the action we took a few moments ago, taxpayers, 
families across America, would find themselves, for example, in a 
situation of, if they had a $100,000 mortgage and they refinanced at 
$80,000 or the bank sold their home on a foreclosure at $80,000, they 
would find themselves paying taxes on that difference between $100,000 
and $80,000, that $20,000 difference. If it was forgiven by the lender, 
they would pay taxes on that as if it were income. That makes no sense 
when families are challenged, facing the loss of their homes, 
struggling to make ends meet--we are coming up to Christmas now--when 
families are struggling to make sure they have what we all want, to be 
able to give our children a wonderful Christmas, to be able to have a 
home for them, a place for the Christmas tree.
  There are too many families who now find themselves in a real crisis. 
I am very grateful to everyone who has been involved in getting us to 
this point. We have now said loudly and clearly that we understand and 
we are not going to allow families to have an additional

[[Page S15643]]

tax burden as a result of being in a foreclosure or in the middle of 
the mortgage crisis. And the FHA reform that we passed earlier today 
says: We want to make it better by providing you alternatives and help 
to be able to keep your home.
  I particularly want to thank, first, my cosponsors of the legislation 
that is the underlying legislation that has resulted in this action 
today--my Republican cosponsor, Senator Voinovich, who has been just 
terrific. Both of us come from the Midwest, Michigan and Ohio. We both 
find ourselves in many similar situations economically, with families 
who have been faced with the issues of mortgage foreclosure and 
challenging refinancing situations. I want to thank Senator Voinovich, 
who is key to the place we are today, in getting to this point. He has 
played an incredibly important role, and I am grateful to him for that. 
Senator John Kerry has also been very helpful, and his staff; Senator 
Levin, my partner, who is always there, both of us working on behalf of 
Michigan; and Senators Snowe, Brown, Hatch, Coleman, Schumer, Harry 
Reid, Nelson, Klobuchar, Lieberman, Harkin, and Salazar.
  Of course, we would not be here without our leader, Senator Harry 
Reid. I know this is a personal concern to him in Nevada. I know that 
in his State there is a real challenge, as in mine, as it relates to 
the mortgage crisis, and he has made this a personal priority, and I am 
very grateful for his support.
  Of course, Senator Baucus, our chairman of the Finance Committee, 
without whom, also, we would not be here, if it was not for his 
leadership, and his partner, Senator Grassley, without their bipartisan 
working relationship--they are so extraordinary--we would not have an 
opportunity to address this issue and pass this legislation.
  We held a hearing earlier this week, and I want to thank again our 
Finance Committee chairman for focusing a bright light on this mortgage 
crisis, what is happening not only in the subprime lending market but 
in the general economy as it relates to the ripple effect in the 
housing crisis, and his commitment has brought us to this point. I want 
to thank him.
  I also want to thank Senator Judd Gregg, who brought this issue to 
the debate on the farm bill and, frankly, was very instrumental in 
bringing this focus to the Senate floor, very articulate in explaining 
what the problems are that families are facing, and he, too, deserves a 
lot of credit for being a part of the effort to get us to this point 
and getting the actual bill passed this year.
  Finally, I want to thank the White House. I think it is fair to say 
that there are not a lot of issues in which I find myself on the same 
side as our President, but this is one of those on which we have worked 
very well together. I appreciate his staff's good will in working with 
us to be able to get this done.
  This was an important bipartisan effort from top to bottom, and I 
think we can all be pleased and grateful that we have the opportunity 
to work together to really get something done. That is what people want 
us to do. I know our Presiding Officer understands that, that people 
want us to work together, they want us to understand what is going on 
in their lives and that it is not just a game, that there are real 
things that need to be fixed, that we need to solve problems. I know 
that is why we have come here. The examples today, working together on 
the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act and FHA, are two examples of what 
happens when we work together.

  I am a member of the Agriculture Committee and proudly have worked 
with our chairman and ranking member and all of the members of the 
committee to get a farm bill passed, a Food and Energy Security Act 
that is good for the country, not just for rural America but for all 
Americans and for our economy.
  So this is a day--we have the Department of Defense authorization 
that was passed--this is a day of good cheer, a day of showing what we 
can do with the right kind of leadership, and I again thank Senator 
Reid for providing that leadership. He and Senator McConnell, working 
together on the efforts that we were able to pass today, have made a 
real difference.
  We have, in fact, as it relates to families who find themselves in a 
very difficult crisis or on the verge of a crisis related to losing 
their homes, said to them: We not only hear you, but we are going to 
step up and we are going to help. That is what this bill does. That 
takes away the tax liability for families. That is what we did earlier 
today with FHA modernization, and it is a good way to end a very hard-
fought week, a very difficult, challenging week, to come together on 
this Friday to be able to get work done for the American people, and I 
am very proud we have been able to do that.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.

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