Congressional Record, Volume 154 Issue 20 (Thursday, February 7, 2008)

[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 20 (Thursday, February 7, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H784-H793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

ECONOMIC STIMULUS ACT OF 2008

Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it shall be
in order at any time to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R.
5140) to provide economic stimulus through recovery rebates to
individuals, incentives for business investment, and an increase in
conforming and FHA loan limits, with a Senate amendment thereto, and to
consider in the House, without intervention of any point of order, a
motion offered by the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means or
his designee that the House concur in the Senate amendment; the Senate
amendment and the motion shall be considered as read; the motion shall
be debatable for 40 minutes equally divided and controlled by the
chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and
Means; and the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the
motion to its adoption without intervening motion.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.

{time} 1830

Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the previous order of the
House, I call up H.R. 5140 and the Senate amendment thereto.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will designate the Senate
amendment.
The text of the Senate amendment is as follows:

Senate amendment:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Economic
Stimulus Act of 2008''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act
is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

TITLE I--RECOVERY REBATES AND INCENTIVES FOR BUSINESS INVESTMENT

Sec. 101. 2008 recovery rebates for individuals.
Sec. 102. Temporary increase in limitations on expensing of certain
depreciable business assets.
Sec. 103. Special allowance for certain property acquired during 2008.

TITLE II--HOUSING GSE AND FHA LOAN LIMITS

Sec. 201. Temporary conforming loan limit increase for Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac.
Sec. 202. Temporary loan limit increase for FHA.

TITLE III--EMERGENCY DESIGNATION

Sec. 301. Emergency designation.

TITLE I--RECOVERY REBATES AND INCENTIVES FOR BUSINESS INVESTMENT

SEC. 101. 2008 RECOVERY REBATES FOR INDIVIDUALS.

(a) In General.--Section 6428 of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 6428. 2008 RECOVERY REBATES FOR INDIVIDUALS.

``(a) In General.--In the case of an eligible individual,
there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by
subtitle A for the first taxable year beginning in 2008 an
amount equal to the lesser of--
``(1) net income tax liability, or
``(2) $600 ($1,200 in the case of a joint return).
``(b) Special Rules.--
``(1) In general.--In the case of a taxpayer described in
paragraph (2)--
``(A) the amount determined under subsection (a) shall not
be less than $300 ($600 in the case of a joint return), and
``(B) the amount determined under subsection (a) (after the
application of subparagraph (A)) shall be increased by the
product of $300 multiplied by the number of qualifying
children (within the meaning of section 24(c)) of the
taxpayer.
``(2) Taxpayer described.--A taxpayer is described in this
paragraph if the taxpayer--
``(A) has qualifying income of at least $3,000, or
``(B) has--
``(i) net income tax liability which is greater than zero,
and
``(ii) gross income which is greater than the sum of the
basic standard deduction plus the exemption amount (twice the
exemption amount in the case of a joint return).
``(c) Treatment of Credit.--The credit allowed by
subsection (a) shall be treated as allowed by subpart C of
part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1.
``(d) Limitation Based on Adjusted Gross Income.--The
amount of the credit allowed by subsection (a) (determined
without regard to this subsection and subsection (f)) shall
be reduced (but not below zero) by 5 percent of so much of
the taxpayer's adjusted gross income as exceeds $75,000
($150,000 in the case of a joint return).
``(e) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
``(1) Qualifying income.--The term `qualifying income'
means--
``(A) earned income,
``(B) social security benefits (within the meaning of
section 86(d)), and
``(C) any compensation or pension received under chapter
11, chapter 13, or chapter 15 of title 38, United States
Code.
``(2) Net income tax liability.--The term `net income tax
liability' means the excess of--
``(A) the sum of the taxpayer's regular tax liability
(within the meaning of section 26(b)) and the tax imposed by
section 55 for the taxable year, over
``(B) the credits allowed by part IV (other than section 24
and subpart C thereof) of subchapter A of chapter 1.
``(3) Eligible individual.--The term `eligible individual'
means any individual other than--
``(A) any nonresident alien individual,
``(B) any individual with respect to whom a deduction under
section 151 is allowable to another taxpayer for a taxable
year beginning in the calendar year in which the individual's
taxable year begins, and
``(C) an estate or trust.
``(4) Earned income.--The term `earned income' has the
meaning set forth in section 32(c)(2) except that--
``(A) subclause (II) of subparagraph (B)(vi) thereof shall
be applied by substituting `January 1, 2009' for `January 1,
2008', and
``(B) such term shall not include net earnings from self-
employment which are not taken into account in computing
taxable income.
``(5) Basic standard deduction; exemption amount.--The
terms `basic standard deduction' and `exemption amount' shall
have the same respective meanings as when used in section
6012(a).
``(f) Coordination With Advance Refunds of Credit.--
``(1) In general.--The amount of credit which would (but
for this paragraph) be allowable under this section shall be
reduced (but not below zero) by the aggregate refunds and
credits made or allowed to the taxpayer under subsection (g).
Any failure to so reduce the credit shall be treated as
arising out of a mathematical or clerical error and assessed
according to section 6213(b)(1).
``(2) Joint returns.--In the case of a refund or credit
made or allowed under subsection (g) with respect to a joint
return, half of such refund or credit shall be treated as
having been made or allowed to each individual filing such
return.
``(g) Advance Refunds and Credits.--
``(1) In general.--Each individual who was an eligible
individual for such individual's first taxable year beginning
in 2007 shall be treated as having made a payment against the
tax imposed by chapter 1 for such first taxable year in an
amount equal to the advance refund amount for such taxable
year.
``(2) Advance refund amount.--For purposes of paragraph
(1), the advance refund amount is the amount that would have
been allowed as a credit under this section for such first
taxable year if this section (other than subsection (f) and
this subsection) had applied to such taxable year.
``(3) Timing of payments.--The Secretary shall, subject to
the provisions of this title, refund or credit any
overpayment attributable to this section as rapidly as
possible. No refund or credit shall be made or allowed under
this subsection after December 31, 2008.
``(4) No interest.--No interest shall be allowed on any
overpayment attributable to this section.
``(h) Identification Number Requirement.--
``(1) In general.--No credit shall be allowed under
subsection (a) to an eligible individual who does not include
on the return of tax for the taxable year--
``(A) such individual's valid identification number,
``(B) in the case of a joint return, the valid
identification number of such individual's spouse, and
``(C) in the case of any qualifying child taken into
account under subsection (b)(1)(B), the valid identification
number of such qualifying child.
``(2) Valid identification number.--For purposes of
paragraph (1), the term `valid identification number' means a
social security number issued to an individual by the Social
Security Administration. Such term shall not include a TIN
issued by the Internal Revenue Service.''.
(b) Administrative Amendments.--
(1) Definition of deficiency.--Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``and
53(e)'' and inserting ``53(e), and 6428''.
(2) Mathematical or clerical error authority.--Section
6213(g)(2)(L) of such Code is amended by striking ``or 32''
and inserting ``32, or 6428''.
(c) Treatment of Possessions.--
(1) Payments to possessions.--
(A) Mirror code possession.--The Secretary of the Treasury
shall make a payment to each possession of the United States
with a mirror code tax system in an amount equal to the loss
to that possession by reason of the amendments made by this
section. Such amount shall be determined by the Secretary of
the Treasury based on information provided by the government
of the respective possession.
(B) Other possessions.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall
make a payment to each possession of the United States which
does not have a mirror code tax system in an amount estimated
by the Secretary of the Treasury as being equal to the
aggregate benefits that would have been provided to residents
of such possession by reason of the amendments made by this
section if a mirror code tax system had been in effect in
such possession. The preceding sentence shall not apply with
respect to any possession of the United States unless such
possession has a plan, which has been approved by the
Secretary of the Treasury, under which such possession will
promptly distribute such payment to the residents of such
possession.

[[Page H785]]

(2) Coordination with credit allowed against united states
income taxes.--No credit shall be allowed against United
States income taxes under section 6428 of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (as amended by this section) to any
person--
(A) to whom a credit is allowed against taxes imposed by
the possession by reason of the amendments made by this
section, or
(B) who is eligible for a payment under a plan described in
paragraph (1)(B).
(3) Definitions and special rules.--
(A) Possession of the united states.--For purposes of this
subsection, the term ``possession of the United States''
includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands.
(B) Mirror code tax system.--For purposes of this
subsection, the term ``mirror code tax system'' means, with
respect to any possession of the United States, the income
tax system of such possession if the income tax liability of
the residents of such possession under such system is
determined by reference to the income tax laws of the United
States as if such possession were the United States.
(C) Treatment of payments.--For purposes of section
1324(b)(2) of title 31, United States Code, the payments
under this subsection shall be treated in the same manner as
a refund due from the credit allowed under section 6428 of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as amended by this
section).
(d) Refunds Disregarded in the Administration of Federal
Programs and Federally Assisted Programs.--Any credit or
refund allowed or made to any individual by reason of section
6428 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as amended by this
section) or by reason of subsection (c) of this section shall
not be taken into account as income and shall not be taken
into account as resources for the month of receipt and the
following 2 months, for purposes of determining the
eligibility of such individual or any other individual for
benefits or assistance, or the amount or extent of benefits
or assistance, under any Federal program or under any State
or local program financed in whole or in part with Federal
funds.
(e) Appropriations To Carry Out Rebates.--
(1) In general.--Immediately upon the enactment of this
Act, the following sums are appropriated, out of any money in
the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2008:
(A) Department of treasury.--
(i) For an additional amount for ``Department of the
Treasury--Financial Management Service--Salaries and
Expenses'', $64,175,000, to remain available until September
30, 2009.
(ii) For an additional amount for ``Department of the
Treasury--Internal Revenue Service--Taxpayer Services'',
$50,720,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009.
(iii) For an additional amount for ``Department of the
Treasury--Internal Revenue Service--Operations Support'',
$151,415,000, to remain available until September 30, 2009.
(B) Social security administration.--For an additional
amount for ``Social Security Administration--Limitation on
Administrative Expenses'', $31,000,000, to remain available
until September 30, 2008.
(2) Reports.--No later than 15 days after enactment of this
Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit a plan to the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate detailing the expected use of the funds
provided by paragraph (1)(A). Beginning 90 days after
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall
submit a quarterly report to the Committees on Appropriations
of the House of Representatives and the Senate detailing the
actual expenditure of funds provided by paragraph (1)(A) and
the expected expenditure of such funds in the subsequent
quarter.
(f) Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Paragraph (2) of section 1324(b) of title 31, United
States Code, is amended by inserting ``or 6428'' after
``section 35''.
(2) Paragraph (1) of section 1(i) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 is amended by striking subparagraph (D).
(3) The item relating to section 6428 in the table of
sections for subchapter B of chapter 65 of such Code is
amended to read as follows:

``Sec. 6428. 2008 recovery rebates for individuals.''.

SEC. 102. TEMPORARY INCREASE IN LIMITATIONS ON EXPENSING OF
CERTAIN DEPRECIABLE BUSINESS ASSETS.

(a) In General.--Subsection (b) of section 179 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to limitations) is
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(7) Increase in limitations for 2008.--In the case of any
taxable year beginning in 2008--
``(A) the dollar limitation under paragraph (1) shall be
$250,000,
``(B) the dollar limitation under paragraph (2) shall be
$800,000, and
``(C) the amounts described in subparagraphs (A) and (B)
shall not be adjusted under paragraph (5).''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section
shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31,
2007.

SEC. 103. SPECIAL ALLOWANCE FOR CERTAIN PROPERTY ACQUIRED
DURING 2008.

(a) In General.--Subsection (k) of section 168 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to special allowance
for certain property acquired after September 10, 2001, and
before January 1, 2005) is amended--
(1) by striking ``September 10, 2001'' each place it
appears and inserting ``December 31, 2007'',
(2) by striking ``September 11, 2001'' each place it
appears and inserting ``January 1, 2008'',
(3) by striking ``January 1, 2005'' each place it appears
and inserting ``January 1, 2009'', and
(4) by striking ``January 1, 2006'' each place it appears
and inserting ``January 1, 2010''.
(b) 50 Percent Allowance.--Subparagraph (A) of section
168(k)(1) of such Code is amended by striking ``30 percent''
and inserting ``50 percent''.
(c) Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Subclause (I) of section 168(k)(2)(B)(i) of such Code
is amended by striking ``and (iii)'' and inserting ``(iii),
and (iv)''.
(2) Subclause (IV) of section 168(k)(2)(B)(i) of such Code
is amended by striking ``clauses (ii) and (iii)'' and
inserting ``clause (iii)''.
(3) Clause (i) of section 168(k)(2)(C) of such Code is
amended by striking ``and (iii)'' and inserting ``, (iii),
and (iv)''.
(4) Clause (i) of section 168(k)(2)(F) of such Code is
amended by striking ``$4,600'' and inserting ``$8,000''.
(5)(A) Subsection (k) of section 168 of such Code is
amended by striking paragraph (4).
(B) Clause (iii) of section 168(k)(2)(D) of such Code is
amended by striking the last sentence.
(6) Paragraph (4) of section 168(l) of such Code is amended
by redesignating subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) as
subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D) and inserting before
subparagraph (B) (as so redesignated) the following new
subparagraph:
``(A) Bonus depreciation property under subsection (k).--
Such term shall not include any property to which section
168(k) applies.''.
(7) Paragraph (5) of section 168(l) of such Code is
amended--
(A) by striking ``September 10, 2001'' in subparagraph (A)
and inserting ``December 31, 2007'', and
(B) by striking ``January 1, 2005'' in subparagraph (B) and
inserting ``January 1, 2009''.
(8) Subparagraph (D) of section 1400L(b)(2) of such Code is
amended by striking ``January 1, 2005'' and inserting
``January 1, 2010''.
(9) Paragraph (3) of section 1400N(d) of such Code is
amended--
(A) by striking ``September 10, 2001'' in subparagraph (A)
and inserting ``December 31, 2007'', and
(B) by striking ``January 1, 2005'' in subparagraph (B) and
inserting ``January 1, 2009''.
(10) Paragraph (6) of section 1400N(d) of such Code is
amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
``(E) Exception for bonus depreciation property under
section 168(k).--The term `specified Gulf Opportunity Zone
extension property' shall not include any property to which
section 168(k) applies.''.
(11) The heading for subsection (k) of section 168 of such
Code is amended--
(A) by striking ``September 10, 2001'' and inserting
``December 31, 2007'', and
(B) by striking ``January 1, 2005'' and inserting ``January
1, 2009''.
(12) The heading for clause (ii) of section 168(k)(2)(B) of
such Code is amended by striking ``pre-january 1, 2005'' and
inserting ``pre-january 1, 2009''.
(d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall apply to property placed in service after December 31,
2007, in taxable years ending after such date.

TITLE II--HOUSING GSE AND FHA LOAN LIMITS

SEC. 201. TEMPORARY CONFORMING LOAN LIMIT INCREASE FOR FANNIE
MAE AND FREDDIE MAC.

(a) Increase of High Cost Areas Limits for Housing GSEs.--
For mortgages originated during the period beginning on July
1, 2007, and ending at the end of December 31, 2008:
(1) Fannie mae.--With respect to the Federal National
Mortgage Association, notwithstanding section 302(b)(2) of
the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act (12
U.S.C. 1717(b)(2)), the limitation on the maximum original
principal obligation of a mortgage that may be purchased by
the Association shall be the higher of--
(A) the limitation for 2008 determined under such section
302(b)(2) for a residence of the applicable size; or
(B) 125 percent of the area median price for a residence of
the applicable size, but in no case to exceed 175 percent of
the limitation for 2008 determined under such section
302(b)(2) for a residence of the applicable size.
(2) Freddie mac.--With respect to the Federal Home Loan
Mortgage Corporation, notwithstanding section 305(a)(2) of
the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation Act (12 U.S.C.
1454(a)(2)), the limitation on the maximum original principal
obligation of a mortgage that may be purchased by the
Corporation shall be the higher of--
(A) the limitation determined for 2008 under such section
305(a)(2) for a residence of the applicable size; or
(B) 125 percent of the area median price for a residence of
the applicable size, but in no case to exceed 175 percent of
the limitation determined for 2008 under such section
305(a)(2) for a residence of the applicable size.
(b) Determination of Limits.--The areas and area median
prices used for purposes of the determinations under
subsection (a) shall be the areas and area median prices used
by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in
determining the applicable limits under section 202 of this
title.
(c) Rule of Construction.--A mortgage originated during the
period referred to in subsection (a) that is eligible for
purchase by the Federal National Mortgage Association or the
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation pursuant to this
section shall be eligible for such purchase for the duration
of the term of the mortgage, notwithstanding that such
purchase occurs after the expiration of such period.
(d) Effect on Housing Goals.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, mortgages

[[Page H786]]

purchased in accordance with the increased maximum original
principal obligation limitations determined pursuant to this
section shall not be considered in determining performance
with respect to any of the housing goals established under
section 1332, 1333, or 1334 of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4562-4), and shall not be
considered in determining compliance with such goals pursuant
to section 1336 of such Act (12 U.S.C. 4566) and regulations,
orders, or guidelines issued thereunder.
(e) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress
that the securitization of mortgages by the Federal National
Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage
Corporation plays an important role in providing liquidity to
the United States housing markets. Therefore, the Congress
encourages the Federal National Mortgage Association and the
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation to securitize
mortgages acquired under the increased conforming loan limits
established in this section, to the extent that such
securitizations can be effected in a timely and efficient
manner that does not impose additional costs for mortgages
originated, purchased, or securitized under the existing
limits or interfere with the goal of adding liquidity to the
market.

SEC. 202. TEMPORARY LOAN LIMIT INCREASE FOR FHA.

(a) Increase of High-Cost Area Limit.--For mortgages for
which the mortgagee has issued credit approval for the
borrower on or before December 31, 2008, subparagraph (A) of
section 203(b)(2) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C.
1709(b)(2)(A)) shall be considered (except for purposes of
section 255(g) of such Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-20(g))) to
require that a mortgage shall involve a principal obligation
in an amount that does not exceed the lesser of--
(1) in the case of a 1-family residence, 125 percent of the
median 1-family house price in the area, as determined by the
Secretary; and in the case of a 2-, 3-, or 4-family
residence, the percentage of such median price that bears the
same ratio to such median price as the dollar amount
limitation determined for 2008 under section 305(a)(2) of the
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation Act (12 U.S.C.
1454(a)(2)) for a 2-, 3-, or 4-family residence,
respectively, bears to the dollar amount limitation
determined for 2008 under such section for a 1-family
residence; or
(2) 175 percent of the dollar amount limitation determined
for 2008 under such section 305(a)(2) for a residence of the
applicable size (without regard to any authority to increase
such limitation with respect to properties located in Alaska,
Guam, Hawaii, or the Virgin Islands);

except that the dollar amount limitation in effect under this
subsection for any size residence for any area shall not be
less than the greater of (A) the dollar amount limitation in
effect under such section 203(b)(2) for the area on October
21, 1998; or (B) 65 percent of the dollar amount limitation
determined for 2008 under such section 305(a)(2) for a
residence of the applicable size. Any reference in this
subsection to dollar amount limitations in effect under
section 305 (a)(2) of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage
Corporation Act means such limitations as in effect without
regard to any increase in such limitation pursuant to section
201 of this title.
(b) Discretionary Authority.--If the Secretary of Housing
and Urban Development determines that market conditions
warrant such an increase, the Secretary may, for the period
that begins upon the date of the enactment of this Act and
ends at the end of the date specified in subsection (a),
increase the maximum dollar amount limitation determined
pursuant to subsection (a) with respect to any particular
size or sizes of residences, or with respect to residences
located in any particular area or areas, to an amount that
does not exceed the maximum dollar amount then otherwise in
effect pursuant to subsection (a) for such size residence, or
for such area (if applicable), by not more than $100,000.
(c) Publication of Area Median Prices and Loan Limits.--The
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall publish the
median house prices and mortgage principal obligation limits,
as revised pursuant to this section, for all areas as soon as
practicable, but in no case more than 30 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act. With respect to existing areas
for which the Secretary has not established area median
prices before such date of enactment, the Secretary may rely
on existing commercial data in determining area median prices
and calculating such revised principal obligation limits.

TITLE III--EMERGENCY DESIGNATION

SEC. 301. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.

For purposes of Senate enforcement, all provisions of this
Act are designated as emergency requirements and necessary to
meet emergency needs pursuant to section 204 of S. Con. Res.
21 (110th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget
for fiscal year 2008.

Motion Offered by Mr. Rangel

Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will designate the motion.
The text of the motion is as follows:

Motion offered by Mr. Rangel:
Mr. Rangel moves that the House concur in the Senate
amendment to H.R. 5140.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of today,
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) and the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. McCrery) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may utilize.
Madam Speaker, I have asked the nonpartisan Joint Committee on
Taxation to make available to the public a technical explanation of the
tax divisions of H.R. 5140. The technical explanation expresses the
committee's understanding and the legislative intent behind this
important legislation. This explanation document, JCX-16-08, is
currently available on the joint committee's Web site.
Madam Speaker, first and foremost, I want to extend my deep
appreciation for Speaker Pelosi, for her leadership and commitment to a
bipartisan spirit, and to the minority leader, Mr. Boehner, for his
hard work and the cooperation as we move toward this truly critical
legislation.
In addition, I want to thank my friend, Hank Paulson, for working to
broker a compromise between the Congress and an administration that not
before had indicated the depth of cooperation that the Secretary of the
Treasury invoked.
Finally, I would like to thank the Senate leadership for recognizing
the urgency of this relief and finally getting to work to ensure its
quick passage today, enabling the House to pass the Senate amendment
and delivering it to the President's desk.
I also would like to thank Mr. McCrery, who made it easy for us to
work with our leadership in the House to cooperate with the
administration to make certain that our mission to speedily pass the
stimulus bill was done and sent over to the Senate.
I also want to point out that they should give us all, in our
country, and indeed in this House, an opportunity to see that we are
not sending these hundreds of billions of dollars in rebate dollars to
the people that need it out of compassion. We are not sending it to
them because we think it's right that they should put a roof over their
heads or clothing on their backs or provide food on the table. We are
doing it because, once again, we want to stimulate the economy, and
therefore, it means that we want goods and services to be purchased.
We do this and we support this effort because the economists say it's
the right thing to do and we do it because these are the people,
middle-class people, lower income people, hardworking people, disabled
veterans, we do it because it's the right thing to do. But, Madam
Speaker, my colleagues in the House, I hope when this recession is
over, and it will be over, that we'll take a good look at the people
that we are talking about today, and we should be able to say that
there is something wrong with this picture and there is something wrong
when we can find millions of people unable to provide the basic goods
and services they need and, at the same time, find that those who are
most affluent are not even disturbed by the recession that we find
ourselves in today.
And so we should be pleased that the Congress is doing the right
thing. But we also should also remember that it is not with a lot of
dignity and pride that people receive this assistance. They receive it
because, as the economists and elitists said, they're going to spend
this money because they have to spend this money.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McCRERY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself so much time as I may
consume.
I will also begin my remarks by thanking the leadership on both sides
of the aisle, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Boehner, for their efforts on a
bipartisan basis to respond in a very efficient and quick manner to the
needs of the country, the needs of our economy, by putting together and
supporting a stimulus package that we hope, combined with the efforts
of the Fed, will indeed avert a recession in this country and will
contribute to a higher level of economic growth this year than we
otherwise would have had.
Their efforts surely should be taken note of by every Member in this
House, indeed of the Congress, and by people across this country. It
demonstrates that when we, in this body, want to work together and
accomplish something for the country, we can do it. And we certainly
have done it in this piece of legislation.
It is a compromise, no question about it. There are things that we
would have

[[Page H787]]

liked to have had in this bill that are not in there. There are things
that the majority would have liked to have in here that are not in
here. But the fact that we were able to come together and get this done
and in this very short amount of time is clearly a victory for the
American people and I believe a victory for this Congress.
I also want to thank my colleague, the chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee, Mr. Rangel. He has really reached out to the minority
throughout his tenure as chairman, and in this instance, his staff
worked very closely with the minority staff and with leadership staff
to put this product together. So I want to thank him for his continued
gentlemanly conduct of the committee and cooperation with the minority
when it's possible.
Madam Speaker, this bill before us today does have a few changes from
the House bill that passed just a few days ago.
The changes basically allow Social Security benefits and disabled
veterans benefits to count as earned income for purposes of satisfying
the $3,000 requirement for earned income to get the prebates: $300 per
person, $600 per couple, and even the $300 child credit, if applicable.
So I think certainly that is an improvement to the bill in the sense
that we will get more money into the hands of people who will more than
likely spend that money very quickly and get that money working in the
economy.
The Senate also made some changes with respect to making sure that
illegal immigrants are not able to take advantage of this prebate,
these checks that are being sent out, and certainly that is a positive
development.
Madam Speaker, all in all, I think the product before us this evening
is an excellent work of the two bodies on a bipartisan basis and, of
course, with the support of the Bush administration. And I hope that
all Members in this body will tonight enthusiastically support this
product and get this to the President for his signature, to the IRS for
their administration, and get the checks in the hands of people and
allow businesses to begin to get a bonus depreciation for investment.
We think that will help speed investment into this year and create
jobs. And that is the best way to fight an economic downturn is to
create jobs and get money circulating in the economy with paychecks.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my good friend from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Kanjorski).
Mr. KANJORSKI. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my appreciation
to the House Democratic and the Republican leadership and to our
colleagues in the Senate for the bipartisan effort that has produced
timely, targeted, and temporary legislation to stimulate our Nation's
slowing economy. I am also pleased that the legislation we are about to
consider ensures that our Nation's senior citizens and disabled
veterans are not left out of this worthwhile package.
Because of my concerns that the bill we considered last week did not
include the low-income seniors and the disabled, I led the effort in
the House to ensure that those who depend entirely on their Social
Security checks were included in the final version of this legislation.
I am very pleased that the Senate agreed and expanded the economic
stimulus package to provide these Americans with much-needed relief. I
urge my colleagues in the House to do the same.
Our Nation's seniors and disabled veterans are facing difficult
economic times. For years, these men and women have been forced to
survive on less and less as their costs continue to increase and their
incomes remain the same. These Americans need cash rebates just as much
as the individuals originally included in the stimulus package.
I am also pleased to see that the legislation we are about to vote on
includes language that would ensure that illegal immigrants do not
receive cash benefits that should only go to those who rightfully
deserve it. This language mirrors legislation that I introduced in the
House today.
Finally, the bill before us today contains an important provision
that I helped to craft as the chairman of the Subcommittee of Capital
Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises. This reform
will temporarily increase the conforming loan limits of Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac to enhance the liquidity of our mortgage markets. I support
this short-term change.
Madam Speaker, once again, I wish to applaud the efforts of both the
Members of the House and the Members of the Senate in crafting
legislation that will spur our economy, provide rebates to those that
need them most, and ensure that those ineligible for Federal benefits
do not receive them.
Further, Madam Speaker, I have great pride today that the Congress of
the United States could bring this most important legislation in this
very short time in a very bipartisan way, and we should all have that
pride as we vote on this package today.
Mr. McCRERY. Madam Speaker, at this time I yield 3 minutes to the
distinguished ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, the
gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus).
Mr. BACHUS. I thank the ranking member.
First of all, I'd like to commend Chairman Rangel, Chairman Frank,
the leadership of both the Democratic and Republican leadership, and
Ranking Member McCrery. I think that what we have here is good
legislation. I supported it for three reasons when it passed the House.
Most importantly, and I repeat the words of Ranking Member McCrery,
we're getting money back in the hands of American citizens. We're
letting them make the decision on how to spend the money and not this
Congress. It's a tax cut. It's a tax cut for many low- and middle-
income Americans. I particularly like the tax cuts we've given to
seniors, to veterans, and the disabled, as the gentleman from
Pennsylvania pointed out.
Secondly, the Financial Services Committee tried to address the much
publicized and very important problems with our housing market by
increasing liquidity in our housing market for mortgages. There are
people that are ready to buy houses, there are institutions that are
ready to loan, but there is a lack of confidence in some of those
mortgages and in that financing. And I believe the new limits we've
given the GSEs and FHAs will help that market. We've done it short
term. We'll revisit it if it needs to be for a longer period of time.
Third, I believe what is lacking most of all in our economy and our
country today is a lack of confidence, a lack of optimism.

{time} 1845

There has been a lot of expression of the importance of hope, the
importance of optimism and confidence. And I believe, at least short
term, this package will at least say to the American people, we have
confidence in you. There is need for optimism. And, hopefully, in some
small way, it will promote optimism and confidence.
I will say this as I close: until and unless we balance the budget,
until government begins to spend what it brings in, we're going to have
problems. Until we address entitlement reform, we're going to have
problems. This government cannot continue to run deficits. If it does,
the economy will not, over the long term, recover.
We have a spending problem in this Congress. We need to recognize
that. We've recognized in this bill that we spend too much money, that
instead the people ought to do it. We ought to continue that.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this economic stimulus package.
The version of the stimulus plan we vote on tonight is very similar
to the version passed by the House last month. It includes a number of
changes--including tax relief for seniors, veterans, and the disabled--
that will extend the package's benefits to millions more Americans.
Madam Speaker, I support this package for three reasons.
First, it recognizes the basic economic reality that getting money
back in the hands of people who earned it is the best way to help our
economy. The tax element of this package has been called a rebate, but
in essence, it's a tax cut for millions of low- and middle-income
Americans who need it the most.
Second, it will help struggling homeowners. It includes several
provisions designed to address the lack of liquidity in certain
segments of the mortgage market. It temporarily increases the loan
limits that apply to mortgages that can be purchased by the housing
GSEs,

[[Page H788]]

and increases the size of mortgages which the Federal Housing
Administration can insure.
Third, quick enactment of this plan will encourage optimism among
Americans concerned about the economy. Madam Speaker, hope has been
mentioned very often in this Presidential campaign. Tonight we should
send a message to the American people that our economy is strong. There
are businesses that are ready to hire, ready to invest, ready to buy
new technology. There is a legitimate reason for optimism today, and we
should promote that optimism. This package, I believe, will contribute
to that optimism and that hope.
Madam Speaker, let me conclude by commending President Bush, Chairman
Frank, Chairman Rangel, Ranking Member McCrery, and the Republican and
Democratic leadership of this House for coming together so quickly to
assemble this stimulus package. I urge all my colleagues to support it.
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize the chairman of
the Finance Committee who, under the leadership of our Speaker,
provided the guidance to all of us in the committee to be ready for
this occasion if, in fact, we had to. We do have to, we were ready, and
I'm proud to be his colleague, Mr. Frank, for 3 minutes.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I begin, appropriate to this bill, on a
note of bipartisanship. My counterpart on the Financial Services
Committee said we must reduce spending, and I agree. And we will have a
chance this year to reduce the most wasteful drain on our economy
imaginable, the war in Iraq, $100 billion a year, far more than the
excess in any other program. So I hope the American people this year
will heed his view and we will put in place a policy that will save us
$1 trillion over the next 10 years if the wishes of some to stay in
Iraq are maintained.
Secondly, let me reinforce what the chairman said. It was in late
November of last year that Speaker Pelosi urged us to begin thinking
about the economy and called together a group of economists, labor
leaders, and business leaders. And she took the lead and more than
anyone else is responsible for the fact that we are confounding the
cynics by acting so quickly and responsibly today.
Lastly, on the housing piece. What we have is a private housing
market that has gotten itself into a terrible jam. And part of this
bill is to use public and quasi-public entities, entities created by
the Federal Government, to go to the aid of the private market. The
private market has stopped making loans for houses above a certain
level because of, as my friend from Alabama said, a lack of confidence.
What we do today is to empower the Federal agency, the FHA, to help
untangle that with a higher loan limit. And those two creations of the
Congress, quasi-public/private Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we here
today send the public sector to the rescue of a mortgage market at the
upper end that can't function on its own.
But let me say this: there has been an argument that we should not
have done that without further structural reform in those two entities.
I have agreed to those limits and, in fact, pushed for them being
raised now because we're in an economic crisis and we need a short-term
response.
But I am committed, and I know my friend from Alabama joins me in
this, we will not agree to any further extension of those loan limits
after the expiration date of December of this year unless we are able
to accompany them with structural reform. And let me say, I see my
friend nodding, that's our commitment.
So we are committed. And the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee
and I and Members are now talking about the FHA bill. We will not, and
let me give this commitment, we will not bring out of our committee an
increase in the time at which the jumbo loans can be paid for until we
have comprehensive reform.
Given that, we have here a reasonable package. We get money out,
thanks to the Speaker's insistence on this bipartisan framework, to
precisely the people who will spend it, which is what we need now. And
we send the FHA and Fannie and Freddie in a responsible way to the aid
of the private market because private sector-public sector cooperation
is the foundation of our economy.
Mr. McCRERY. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished
ranking member of the Tax Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee,
the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. English).
Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, tonight the House has an
opportunity to give American working families and employers the shot in
the arm they need to weather this growing economic storm.
The heart of this bipartisan plan focuses on putting more demand into
a flagging economy, more money back into the hands of America's
hardworking middle-class families. Through tax rebates and a bump in
the child tax credit, this agreement will quickly inject a cash
infusion into the economy to assist families with skyrocketing food,
services, and energy costs.
Importantly, this legislation will go a step further than the
original compact and ensure that veterans and seniors receive
additional financial support to boost their buying power. All of that
is positive. And as we've already heard, the housing provisions to
increase limits on loans backed on by the FHA and GSEs will, without a
doubt, give relief to families facing financial pressure from the
subprime mortgage crisis.
Finally, and importantly, by rewarding businesses for making critical
capital investments here onshore, we will expand investment, create new
jobs, improve the competitiveness of the American economy, and put an
immediate infusion of liquidity into the economy.
Madam Speaker, in my view, this is precisely the right tonic at the
right time. This should be a start, not the last word. We should be
moving forward with regulatory reform and, above all, let me note to
the people on the other side of the aisle, a budget this year without a
large tax increase looming in the future.
But short of that, this is a good starting place. And I urge my
colleagues to vote for working families, vote for jobs, and vote, above
all, for a growing economy.
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I am certain that all of us feel the same
sense of pride in that Speaker Pelosi has responded to a national need,
and not only did it by reaching out to the minority leader, but created
an atmosphere in this House of Representatives so that we all could
respect our dignity and the differences that we have with the other
body.
Our staffs, our committee has worked together in such a way that at
the end of the day we knew that we would be able to say that it was the
House of Representatives that sent the bill over there.
And so I would like to yield 1 minute to our distinguished Speaker,
Nancy Pelosi.
Ms. PELOSI. I thank the gentleman for his kind words and his
extraordinary leadership, which made it possible for us to come to the
floor with this bipartisan historic legislation tonight. Thank you, Mr.
Rangel, for your leadership. And thank you, Mr. McCrery, for yours.
It's quite an evening when we can come together in a bipartisan way for
legislation that helps the middle class, helps those aspire to the
middle class, gives incentives to businesses to create jobs to
stimulate our economy. I thank you for that.
I acknowledge the leadership of Chairman Barney Frank, chairman of
the Financial Services Committee, for his leadership, along with
Ranking Member Bachus for his, because those who are concerned about,
and that is all of us, the subprime crisis can see some relief in this
legislation because of their leadership.
I want to acknowledge another member of the Financial Services
Committee, Mr. Kanjorski, and salute him for his leadership dropping
the bill even before we took this up this evening for seniors and
disabled veterans to be getting the recovery rebates as well, as well
as clarification of language regarding undocumented persons in our
country getting that benefit. Thank you, Mr. Kanjorski, for your
leadership.
Before I go on too long, I must salute Leader Boehner. It was a
privilege to work with him on this. And Mr. Hoyer and I shared a view
of our caucus. We came with consensus to the table. None of us got
everything we wanted in the legislation, but we did get a great deal
for the American people. We did so in a manner that was timely. We were
acting in record time, targeted on the

[[Page H789]]

middle class and those who aspire to it, targeted to businesses, tax
incentives to businesses to create jobs, and temporary. So these
resources and these tax incentives will be used and spent in a way that
will have an impact in the economy.
I also want to salute Secretary Paulson for his persistence and his
leadership and his receptivity, shall we say, and responsiveness to
some of the values that the Democrats were putting on the table
regarding those who have not participated in receiving a recovery
rebate before, but do so in this bill.
This was across the aisle, but it is also across the Capitol. We
worked it out in record time, again, with Leader Reid and the
Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, on the Senate side, so that tonight
we could bring this bill to the floor.
It was only about 2\1/2\ weeks ago that leadership was on the
telephone with the President of the United States. He had just returned
from his trip to the Middle East. And we talked about what every
homemaker in America has known for a long time, that our economy is
going into a downturn. We wanted to prevent it from being more of a
downturn, and a stimulus was needed.
We had heard from Chairman Bernanke about the state of the economy
and that a stimulus was needed and that it should have certain features
of being timely, targeted, and temporary. And the President, on that
phone call, agreed that we should go forward with a stimulus package in
record time. The House put it together and sent it over to the Senate.
And I'm very, very proud of that.
If I boast of it, it's because it's highly unusual that we can
respond in such record time. But we did so because it was urgent for
the American people. So often they listen in on the debate on the floor
of the House which seems irrelevant to their lives. This is very
relevant to their lives because there are many firsts in here.
For the first time, those who don't make over a certain income are
able to participate in the recovery rebates and the child tax credit.
In fact, more than 40 million Americans, 40 million families will be
receiving those rebates and tax credits who had never received a rebate
or a tax refundable child tax credit before. That's just astounding.
It was different from the bill the President originally proposed
because his proposal did not have a cap, so some of the wealthiest
people in America could get this rebate. Instead, we said, God bless
them for their success. We need to put this money in the pockets of
those who are living paycheck to paycheck, who are finding it hard or
struggling to make ends meet with the price of gasoline, the price of
groceries, the price of health care, the price of education, anything
that you can name, that costs were going up and the purchasing power of
their income was not.
And so we believe that the stimulus, the way it is targeted, will put
money in the hands of those who will spend it immediately, injecting
demand into the economy and therefore creating jobs, the impact that we
want the stimulus to have. Same thing with the small business
incentives.
One of the reasons we were able to move so quickly is because we were
ready. We were ready. The reason we were ready with the child tax
credit is because Congresswoman DeLauro has worked on this issue for
her lifetime in Congress. And of course as chairman of the committee,
Mr. Rangel has had this as a high priority. So it wasn't something that
we had to go create. It's something that we had in our minds and in our
hearts to do for a long time.
The tax credits, the incentives for small businesses have been a part
of the bipartisan support we have in the House for an innovation agenda
so that small businesses and medium-size businesses can take advantage
in a short period of time of this incentive that they have to invest
and to purchase equipment and the rest. Again, for job creation, good-
paying jobs here in America.
We were ready because the Financial Services Committee, under the
leadership of Mr. Barney Frank and Ranking Member Bachus, had already
passed these bills on the floor of the House. Not everything in the
bill is included in this stimulus, but these bills have passed the
House and had been sent over to the Senate. Certain features are
contained in this bill so that there is some relief for the subprime
crisis.
The list goes on and on. But we had our priorities; they have been
our priorities for a while. They are particularly essential now in the
time of a need of stimulus. So when the time came and the President
said he would sign such a bill, we were ready with our priorities.
We fought it out. It wasn't an easy fight, but we knew we had to do
it in the shortest period of time. And it wasn't easy. And there were
some things that I said to the President on the phone when he
congratulated us for going forward that I would have liked to have seen
in the bill, like unemployment insurance and LIHEAP and food stamps and
the rest. But we will take care of those issues in due course. Every
bill cannot accomplish every goal that we have.
I want to identify myself with the comments that Mr. Bachus made.
This is a fiscally sound bill. There were those who wanted to make it
larger with elements that were not necessarily stimulus that we
resisted, excellent ideas. They should be revisited in another piece of
legislation for another day.

{time} 1900

But we had been cautioned over and over, and we have cautioned each
other. And whatever we did in stimulus, even though it would not have
to conform with PAYGO, strictly speaking, that it would not be so
overloaded that it would be a deterrent to recovery because we would be
taking our country more deeply in debt than was justified by our
stimulus package for recovery.
So, because of all of this cooperation, hopefully, it will serve as a
model. I again want to commend Secretary Paulson for his perseverance
and his leadership. And we look forward to soon, in a few days,
perhaps, the President of the United States signing this bill. But the
Secretary has assured us that with the passage of this bill tonight,
even before the Presidential signature, the word will go to the IRS to
begin the process of getting these checks out to the families.
So I think every Member of this body should take great pride in the
bipartisanship of it, in the focus of it, the discipline of it, and
what it means: that it is relevant to the lives of the American people.
A typical middle-income family, a family of four with two children,
will get $1,800. Eighteen hundred dollars. I think that that is
impressive. And families making less than that, other families,
depending on the number of their children, will get a sizable check in
the mail.
This says to them we respect your contribution to our country, to our
economy, to our society, and, even if you don't make a lot of money and
pay income tax, that your contribution to our economy is recognized and
acknowledging the FICA tax that you pay. And that's why once more I
will reiterate that 40 million American families will participate in
the recovery rebates to the tune of about $28 billion infused into our
economy through their hands.
This is a new direction. I urge my colleagues to support it and am
proud to be associated with it. And I thank all for their leadership in
making it possible this evening.
Mr. McCRERY. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell).
Mr. CAMPBELL of California. I thank my friend from Louisiana for
yielding.
Madam Speaker, I hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle
will vote against this bill tonight. I hope you will vote against it
because it's too late. The most important quarters are this quarter and
next quarter, and the vast majority of this won't even take effect
until after or at the end of the next quarter. I hope you will vote
against it, because it may be political stimulus, but it is the wrong
economic stimulus. We are in this problem because of a credit crunch
leading to a capital crunch because, arguably, Americans bought,
borrowed, and spent too much, and we are going to ask them to spend
more.
I hope you will oppose it because it is wealth redistribution. People
who pay

[[Page H790]]

over 50 percent of the taxes in this country will get nothing, and
roughly 30 percent of the benefit of this will go to people who pay no
taxes at all.
I hope you will vote against this and oppose it because illegal
aliens will get this in spite of the new language put in the bill. You
see, we have lots of laws that say it is illegal for people to be here
and do what they do anyway. The problem is we don't enforce those, and
we can't enforce what is in here either. It will be another
unenforceable law.
I hope you will oppose it because of the potential for fraud. When
you give money for nothing, there is an ability for fraud. The GAO
estimates that roughly one-third of all the earned income tax credits
paid out are fraudulent. It will be the same here.
I hope you will oppose it because it encourages spending when what we
need as a society is more saving and investment.
But if none of that mattered, if none of that mattered to you at all,
I hope you will oppose it because it nearly doubles the deficit for
this year. After 3 years of declining deficits, we're going to begin
the other way. We are going to nearly double that deficit.
Buy a flat screen TV and save America. It's not a good policy. I urge
you to vote ``no.''
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the
distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise
and extend her remarks.)
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished
chairman, Mr. Rangel; and to Mr. Kanjorski; the whole team; and our
most forthright and determined Speaker and this bipartisan leadership
that has responded to the pain and the hurt of so many Americans.
Some would ask the question why are we moving so fast and why are we
investing in people who are those who would receive dollars who happen
to be low income. Because people are hurting. So I'm glad that we have
these values that have created this vehicle to help America and that we
are including help and rebates for the elderly. We are including moneys
for 35 million families who work but yet make too little to pay income
tax in the way that you think of them paying, but they do pay taxes.
They will get a rebate. Disabled veterans will get a rebate.
But I look forward to the time when we can extend the unemployment,
we can expand food stamps and Medicaid only because people are hurting.
Why are they hurting? Because we are spending $120 billion in Iraq. For
the gentleman who just spoke, if we stop doing that, we will be able to
provide for the engine of the economy.
Why do we need it? Because in this budget right here that the
President has offered, $39 million will be taken away in social
services block grants from Texans and millions of dollars for the rest
of Americans. Why are we hurting? Because $47 million will be taken
away from Texans as it relates to community block grants. And 200
communities will be impacted. More people hurting.
This is the right direction. This economic stimulus package is quick.
It gives back to families. It gives back to hardworking families. It
gives back to moderate- and low-income families. And it says that
Warren Buffet is right. Give money to hardworking Americans so that
they can make a difference. Give money to invest in communities so we
can build up the economic economy.
And, lastly, let me say thank you so very much for the increase in
the FHA loans of $729,000.
People are hurting, and we need to be able to provide for those
people who are hurting. A moratorium on foreclosures is necessary.
Support the economic stimulus.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Senate Amendments to
the Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act.
I would like to thank Speaker Pelosi for her leadership on this issue,
as well as my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have worked
together to overcome partisan divisions to work together to stimulate
our national economy. This legislation will inject over $106 billion
into the economy in 2008, over 2/3 of which will come in the form of
tax rebate checks, given directly to individuals and families. I also
want to thank the Senate for their amendments which extend the stimulus
rebate checks to 250,000 disabled veterans and at least 20 million
additional American seniors living on Social Security.
However, while I support this legislation, I would like to express my
concern about some of this bill's omissions. requested and had hoped
that this legislation would include language declaring that it is the
sense of Congress that a moratorium of up to 90 days should be declared
on all home foreclosures, and that it is the sense of Congress that the
financial industry should allow for the reconstruction and
reconfiguration of the mortgage loan market.
Madam Speaker, I would have liked to see the following language
included in the final legislation, agreed on by both Houses and signed
into law by the President:
(i) It is the sense of Congress that a moratorium of up to 90 days
should be declared on all home foreclosures.
(ii) It is the sense of Congress that the financial industry should
allow for the reconstruction and reconfiguration of the mortgage loan
market.
It was my sincere hope, shared by many economists, that a temporary
economic adjustment period including a cap on adjustable mortgage rates
would provide relief for millions of Americans, and that this added
time would give them time to look for other resources. By delaying
foreclosure, Congress would have declared that millions of Americans
deserve to make their payments, or to get their loans restructured
before they lose their homes. Those who can keep paying would continue
putting money back into our economy. Madam Speaker, we must act now to
prevent what could be a disaster for millions of Americans.
There are a number of additional proposals that I would have liked to
see included in the final Economic Stimulus package. I believe it
should have included a summer job program, aimed at helping our
nation's youth gain the crucial work experience and job skills that
will allow them to be competitive in today's increasingly difficult
employment market. By working to Provide Americans with the skills they
need to successfully secure and keep employment, we can not only help
both adults and youth to develop their careers and to support
themselves and their families, but we can bolster the whole economy by
combating poverty and unemployment.

I would also like to see the extension and expansion of several
existent programs which are already doing important work toward helping
Americans such as unemployment benefits. Under the strain of current
financial circumstances, I believe that we must bolster these important
programs, especially for hard working Americans who have lost their
jobs. Madam Speaker, I call for the expansion of food stamps and
Medicaid programs, and for the extension of unemployment benefits.
Given the current economic climate, I believe that is our
responsibility, as the leaders of our nation, to do all in our power to
ensure that the most vulnerable populations are protected. That is why
I am particularly pleased to support the Senate amendments extending
benefits to disabled veterans who risked their lives to protect the
freedoms we cherish and seniors who spent decades of their lives
contributing to our economy.
Madam Speaker, now is the time for innovative leadership and
concerted action. Recent data shows economic growth is slowing, and
many economic analysts predict a 50% chance of recession. According to
the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment rose from 4.7% to 5.0% in
November 2007 alone. This data, coupled with a struggling housing
market and overall slowing economic growth, has caused a ``credit
crunch'' that has reduced available funding and has caused rising
prices for housing and food.
Over the past year, we have seen a crisis in subprime mortgage
lending, which has threatened the stability of the housing market and
the livelihoods of large numbers of Americans. During the third quarter
of 2007, the nation's home foreclosures doubled from the previous year.
This Democratic Congress is committed to strengthening the housing
market and stabilizing the economy, and we have passed important
legislation to address this crisis.
Because of the lack of regulation by the federal government, many
housing loans were accompanied by fraud, predatory lending, inadequate
information and other failures of responsible marketing. With
exceptionally high (and rising) foreclosure rates across the country,
homeowners all over America are losing their homes. Homeowners are
surprised to find out that their monthly payments are spiking and they
are struggling to make these increasingly high payments.
The sub-prime mortgage crisis has impacted families and communities
across the country. Home foreclosure filings rose to 1.2 million in
2006--a 42 percent jump--due to rising mortgage bills and a slowing
housing market. Nationally, as many as 2.4 million sub-prime borrowers
have either lost their homes or could lose them in the next few years.

[[Page H791]]

In my home state of Texas, citizens are feeling the impact of the
looming financial crisis. In November 2007 alone, there were 11,599
foreclosure filings in Texas. According to the Center for Responsible
Lending, in Harris County alone 11,944 homes were lost from 2005-2006
through foreclosure on sub prime loans. During the same time period,
the average home decreased $1,355 in total value.

Madam Speaker, I firmly believe that this agreement should include a
moratorium on foreclosures of at least 90 days on owner-occupied homes
with subprime mortgages. Any agreement should also include a rate
freeze on adjustable mortgages of at least five years or until the loan
is converted into a fixed-rate mortgage. The freeze on foreclosures
would give the housing market time to stabilize and homeowners time to
build equity. It is critical that we address this crisis. The Bush
administration and the mortgage industry must reach an agreement that
matches the scale of the problem. The U.S. Treasury Department has been
pushing the mortgage industry to agree to temporarily freeze interest
rates for some borrowers who took out loans with low teaser rates that
will soon be resetting much higher.
Madam Speaker, it is imperative that we address the serious
underlying housing issues faced by our nation. 17 million households,
or one in seven, spend more than 50% of their income on housing. On any
given night, approximately 750,000 men, women, and children are
homeless. Constructing more affordable housing is necessary to help
families who have lost their homes in the subprime mortgage crisis or
due to a family financial crisis, such as illness or job loss. In my
home district in Houston, homelessness remains a significant problem.
Houston's homeless population increased to approximately 14,000 in
2005, before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and hurricane evacuees
remaining in the Houston area could result in the homeless population
increasing by some 23,000. Approximately 28% of homeless Americans are
veterans.
In August, I, in coordination with the Texas Department of Housing
and Community Affairs, hosted a workshop on the introductory concepts
and considerations in applying for Housing Tax Credits in Texas. This
workshop was designed to create new incentives for developers to expand
business opportunities in housing development, as well as to generate a
significant increase in the availability of low-income and affordable
housing for the residents of Houston and Harris County. I believe that
an increase in affordable housing and job opportunities will help
reduce the high rates of homelessness among Houston residents.
Madam Speaker, today's economic stimulus legislation will make
important strides towards helping hardworking Americans who are
struggling with the high costs of gas, health care, and groceries. By
putting several hundred dollars directly into the hands of over 130
million American families, this legislation will make important strides
toward invigorating our economy, giving money to those who will quickly
spend it, reinvesting this money in the American economy.
This bill provides broad-based relief for individuals and families,
valued at approximately $115 billion over 10 years. The packages
include tax cuts for 130 million families, providing up to $600 per
individual, $1,200 per married couple, and an additional $300 per
child. On top of these recovery rebate checks, which could be sent as
early as mid-May, this legislation will provide unprecedented tax
relief for working families, with $32 billion in tax relief for 35
million families who work but make too little to pay income taxes, who
would therefore otherwise not be included in this recovery effort. It
is targeted to reach those who need the relief the most: of these 35
million working families, over 19 million are families with children. I
support provisions in this legislation providing tax relief to middle-
income Americans, as well as those aspiring to the middle class,
leaving out the wealthiest taxpayers. Nearly $50 billion of the rebate
will go to those making less than $50,000.
Madam Speaker, family incomes and home prices are down, even as the
costs of health care, energy, food, and education are on the rise.
Combined with the jump in mortgage foreclosures, the American economy
is struggling, with American families falling behind on their bills and
consumer confidence hitting a five year low.
This bill also contains some provisions to help families avoid
foreclosure. It increases affordable refinancing opportunities and
liquidity in the housing market, increasing the Federal Housing
Administration loan limits to $729,750 for 2008. This will expand
affordable mortgage loan opportunities for families at risk of
foreclosure. Further, it includes a one-year increase in loan limits
for single family homes from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, enhancing
credit availability in the mortgage market.
While this legislation includes provisions intended to provide a
short-term ``fix'' to many of the economic difficulties our economy is
currently facing, I do not believe that it addresses the long-term
needs of our Nation. While short-term response is critical, we must not
neglect infrastructure, energy independence, and innovation needs,
without which we will not be able to establish a vibrant U.S. economy.
I look forward to working with House leadership, and with my fellow
Members on both sides of the aisle, to look to the future, and to build
innovative and long-term solutions to the underlying problems our
economy faces.
Madam Speaker, this legislation is not perfect, but I believe it is
an important step. I continue to advocate for a 90-day moratorium on
home foreclosures to give financially troubled borrowers time to work
with lenders and avoid losing their homes. I also believe we, together,
must address the underlying infrastructure problems plaguing our
economy. However, I do believe today's legislation will provide
important benefits to millions of Americans, to the entire economy, and
to our Nation as a whole. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of
this legislation.
Mr. McCRERY. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished
ranking member of the Trade Subcommittee of the Ways and Means
Committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger).
Mr. HERGER. Madam Speaker, I wish I could share the enthusiasm of my
colleagues about tonight's bill. I truly do. But right now Americans
need to know their jobs will be around tomorrow. Regrettably, this
evening's bill doesn't have much in the way of tax relief to spur job
creation and should have gone much further.
What concerns me more is the expanded redistribution of money through
tax rebates that will, I believe, have next to zero positive effect on
our economy in the short or long term. And, unfortunately, at more than
$100 billion, it can hardly be called ``free money.'' In Congress's
hurry to act in reaction to negative economic news, we have truly
missed a golden opportunity to enact lasting, pro-growth tax relief.
Such relief would benefit all Americans, create new jobs, and drive
economic prosperity.
I support tonight's legislation, but I believe we can and must do
more as a Congress to foster economic growth.
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield to the gentleman
from Indiana (Mr. Donnelly) for 2 minutes, who last week introduced
H.R. 5172 to assure that 127 million Americans, senior Americans,
receive this relief.
Mr. DONNELLY. I thank the chairman for yielding.
Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to commend the House and the Senate for
working together to put together this economic stimulus package and to
do it so quickly. This bipartisan package will spark our economy by
providing millions of working families, including seniors and disabled
veterans, with targeted tax relief.
I am especially proud that this broad-based package also includes
language from my bill, H.R. 5172, the Immediate Financial Assistance
for America's Seniors Act. This provision ensures that nearly 20
million low-income seniors, many who rely heavily on Social Security,
will receive much-needed tax relief. These retired seniors have worked
hard all of their lives. They have paid taxes and they deserve this
support.
Again, I commend the House and Senate for all this work.
Mr. McCRERY. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished
gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).
Mrs. BIGGERT. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, which will boost
economic activity and help strengthen the American housing market. I am
pleased that the House and Senate leaders from both sides of the aisle
have been able to reach agreement on a well-balanced compromise. I also
applaud our colleagues in the Senate for resisting pressure from those
who would delay this package with inappropriate changes and unnecessary
spending.
Hardworking Americans are finding it more and more difficult to
provide for their families, and this bill will help to relieve some of
the financial strain. And because it is a clean and targeted package,
this bill will provide the greater economy with a much-needed jolt of
consumer activity.
As a member of the Financial Services Committee, I especially
appreciate that the Senate preserved the House-passed provisions to
increase conforming loan limits for the FHA- and

[[Page H792]]

GSE-backed home mortgages. This is a critical change that will help
invigorate the housing market and enable prospective homeowners in
higher priced markets like Chicago to take advantage of these prime
mortgage products.
I think this bill is a testimony of what can be accomplished in
Washington when Congress and the administration set aside the partisan
rhetoric and work together.
And I want to urge my colleagues to turn next to comprehensive FHA
reform. I think it's great that Chairman Frank has committed to Ranking
Member Bachus that we will be working on the FHA reform. So we took the
first steps today by increasing the conforming loan limits, but to
truly restore the housing sector, we need to give more consumers an
alternative to subprime and predatory products. The FHA can provide
that alternative but not until the House and Senate conference their
respective FHA reform bills. So by sending this legislation to the
President, we can help hundreds of thousands of families facing
foreclosure qualify for prime rate refinancing so they can keep their
homes.
Again, I applaud the bill before us as a truly good step toward
restoring vigorous economic growth, and I look forward to working with
my colleagues on legislation to address our long-term economic
challenges.
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield 1 minute to the
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz).
Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and ranking member. I
thank you for your pragmatism. I thank you for your vision and your
willingness to get this done, understanding that the situation in our
economy is one, as I heard Speaker Pelosi say, where most Americans
knew far before we did that this was trouble.
Madam Speaker, I keep hearing people say that the economy was fine.
Saying it doesn't make it so. We know that in the last 7 years, the
policies we have seen have created the lowest job growth since the
Great Depression. We have seen real wages drop by $2,500.
The American people needed something, and this is a good bipartisan
piece of legislation, bringing them together to try to address those
facts that they understood long before we did. And I think it sets the
stage and shows the American public we can get along, we can move
things, and we can make a positive difference. And this is a great
first step.
With that, I urge my colleagues to support this good, timely piece of
legislation.
Mr. McCRERY. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentleman
from Georgia (Mr. Scott) for 1 minute.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure to stand
before the House and to thank the distinguished chairman of our Ways
and Means Committee for doing a yeoman's job on a very difficult issue,
in bringing both parties together, in bringing both Chambers together,
and responding in a timely way to help the American people who are
struggling to make ends meet.
There are some who say we're not in a recession, but I can tell you
this from my constituency and others all across this country, a
recession is upon us. And in some areas with high unemployment, it
borders on a depression.
So this is much needed. It comes in a timely manner. We are putting
money into the hands of those who will spend it the quickest, and that
means the moderate and lower income individuals. And at the same time,
I am proud as a member of the Financial Services Committee to have
played a small role in helping this move forward, especially in
expanding the limits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and our FHA loan
extensions.

{time} 1915

Madam Speaker, I thank again the gentleman from New York.
Mr. McCRERY. Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to recognize for closing
on our side the distinguished minority leader, the gentleman from Ohio
(Mr. Boehner), who clearly was instrumental in getting this product
developed through the floor and through the process. He has been lauded
by a number of our colleagues here tonight, and rightfully so. So I am
very pleased at this time to yield the balance of my time to Mr.
Boehner.
Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Speaker, let me thank my colleague for his very
nice words and thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have
worked diligently to get this bill passed.
This economic growth package is an important victory for middle-class
American families and small businesses. With the rising costs of
energy, health care, college, housing and taxes, we put a real strain
on the family budget. But the American people want us to work together
to provide solutions to these problems. And I think this bill begins to
move us in the right direction.
The bipartisan measure will help our economy get moving in the
quickest and most effective way possible. It puts money back in the
hands of middle-class American families. It will give businesses
incentives to create new jobs and help grow our economy. And I think
the package we have before us also clearly is a genuine compromise.
Republicans gave a little, Democrats gave a little, the House gave a
little, and the Senate gave a little. But perhaps most importantly, it
is simple and it is straightforward. And it does not increase taxes or
increase unrelated spending. In other words, it will empower
individuals, not the Federal Government, to help grow our economy.
With this short-term growth package behind us, I think it is now
critical that we focus on the longer term economic future of our
country. I think that raising taxes in this environment would be the
worst thing that we could do. I think that we need to begin to focus on
how we make the tax cuts that we put in place earlier this year,
earlier this decade, how we make them permanent. What do we do about
the corporate tax rate that is driving American businesses out of the
U.S.? We need to have a corporate tax rate that helps keep American
businesses here. There is one thing that we really can do to help
ourselves, and that is really to put our arms around spending,
especially wasteful spending, and put a stop to it. We have got to get
our fiscal house in order.
Many Americans, I think correctly, believe that Washington is broken.
And I am here tonight to say that Washington does have its share of
problems. And I am hopeful that this agreement we have been able to
come to will help us on a path that shows the American people that we
understand the problems that we have here in Washington and that we
can, in fact, work together to solve the problems the American people
sent us here to solve.
I couldn't finish this without also saying something very nice about
our Speaker. Over the course of last year, the Speaker and I didn't
have a policy conversation. I can tell you that we have had about 25
over the last several weeks. And for the health of our institution, I
think it is good to come together and find common ground where we can.
And I am glad that we were able to find common ground on this economic
growth package, and I am hopeful that we will continue to try to find
places where we can work together to solve problems that the American
people expect us to solve.
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I cannot think of any higher way of
expressing the hopeful bipartisanship in the House of Representatives
than expressed by my friend, Minority Leader Boehner.

General Leave

Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on H.R. 5140.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I ask for an ``aye'' vote on this piece of
legislation before the House, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to the order of the House of today, the previous question is
ordered.
The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from New York
(Mr. Rangel).
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

[[Page H793]]

The yeas and nays were ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 380,
nays 34, not voting 16, as follows:

[Roll No. 42]

YEAS--380

Abercrombie
Ackerman
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Allen
Altmire
Andrews
Arcuri
Baca
Bachmann
Bachus
Baldwin
Barrett (SC)
Barrow
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Bean
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehner
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boozman
Boren
Boswell
Boustany
Boyda (KS)
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Braley (IA)
Brown (SC)
Brown, Corrine
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Burton (IN)
Butterfield
Buyer
Calvert
Camp (MI)
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carney
Carter
Castle
Castor
Chabot
Chandler
Clarke
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Cole (OK)
Conaway
Conyers
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Crenshaw
Crowley
Cuellar
Culberson
Cummings
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis (KY)
Davis, David
Davis, Lincoln
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly
Doolittle
Doyle
Drake
Dreier
Edwards
Ehlers
Ellison
Ellsworth
Emanuel
Emerson
Engel
English (PA)
Eshoo
Etheridge
Fallin
Fattah
Feeney
Ferguson
Filner
Fossella
Foxx
Frank (MA)
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Gerlach
Giffords
Gilchrest
Gillibrand
Gonzalez
Goodlatte
Gordon
Granger
Graves
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hall (NY)
Hall (TX)
Hare
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Heller
Hensarling
Herger
Herseth Sandlin
Higgins
Hill
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hobson
Hodes
Hoekstra
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Hulshof
Inglis (SC)
Israel
Issa
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Johnson (GA)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Jones (OH)
Jordan
Kagen
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Keller
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kirk
Klein (FL)
Kline (MN)
Knollenberg
Kucinich
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Lamborn
Lampson
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Latham
LaTourette
Latta
Lee
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lucas
Lynch
Mack
Mahoney (FL)
Maloney (NY)
Manzullo
Marchant
Markey
Marshall
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (CA)
McCarthy (NY)
McCaul (TX)
McCollum (MN)
McCotter
McCrery
McDermott
McGovern
McHenry
McHugh
McIntyre
McKeon
McMorris Rodgers
McNerney
McNulty
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Mica
Michaud
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller (NC)
Miller, Gary
Miller, George
Mitchell
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy, Patrick
Murphy, Tim
Murtha
Musgrave
Myrick
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Neugebauer
Nunes
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pearce
Pelosi
Pence
Perlmutter
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Platts
Pomeroy
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Regula
Rehberg
Reichert
Renzi
Reyes
Reynolds
Richardson
Rodriguez
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Ryan (WI)
Salazar
Sali
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sarbanes
Saxton
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schmidt
Schwartz
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sessions
Sestak
Shays
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuler
Shuster
Sires
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Snyder
Solis
Souder
Space
Spratt
Stark
Stearns
Stupak
Sullivan
Sutton
Tauscher
Terry
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Tierney
Towns
Tsongas
Turner
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walberg
Walden (OR)
Walsh (NY)
Walz (MN)
Wamp
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Welch (VT)
Weldon (FL)
Weller
Wexler
Whitfield (KY)
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (OH)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman (VA)
Wolf
Wu
Wynn
Yarmuth
Young (AK)
Young (FL)

NAYS--34

Baird
Berry
Boyd (FL)
Broun (GA)
Burgess
Campbell (CA)
Coble
Cooper
Cubin
Deal (GA)
Duncan
Flake
Forbes
Garrett (NJ)
Gingrey
Gohmert
Goode
Hunter
Kingston
Linder
Lungren, Daniel E.
Moran (KS)
Paul
Peterson (MN)
Poe
Price (GA)
Rohrabacher
Royce
Sensenbrenner
Shadegg
Simpson
Tancredo
Taylor
Westmoreland

NOT VOTING--16

Boucher
Cramer
Davis, Tom
Everett
Farr
Fortenberry
Inslee
Lantos
Lowey
Pitts
Porter
Ruppersberger
Sanchez, Loretta
Smith (WA)
Tanner
Woolsey

Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). Members have 2 minutes
remaining in this vote.

{time} 1944

Mr. HUNTER changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
So the motion was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

____________________