[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 39 (Friday, March 7, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1724-S1725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             HOUSING CRISIS

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I come to the floor of the Senate today 
to call again upon our colleagues in this chamber to move forward with 
a package that addresses housing challenges we face here in America 
today.
  The dream of American home ownership is very much at risk today. We 
are seeing a housing crisis and a financial crisis here in America that 
is unparalleled in recent times. In fact, when you speak to the home 
mortgage industry as well as the homebuilders, as well as the 
homeowners, they will all tell you we have not seen anything like this 
in America since the Great Depression. The statistics and the facts are 
there to demonstrate this, as well as the reality of people who are 
losing their homes, and more than even those who are losing their 
homes, who have to go through the pain and heartache of losing their 
homes because they cannot afford to pay the adjusted rate mortgages 
which are putting them in a position where they cannot afford to stay 
in their homes. It is also a pain that spreads across to all homeowners 
of America because when you have the kind of foreclosure situation in 
which we find ourselves in America today, that pain is one that is felt 
by all of those who are homeowners.
  This chart is a chart that was prepared by Moody's, a group of 
economists that came up essentially to give us the facts and the 
statistics that demonstrate, without equivocation, that this is an 
unprecedented housing downturn we are seeing. This is a worse downturn 
than anything we saw in the 1990s and the 1980s, and, in fact, their 
conclusion is that we have never seen such a downturn since the Great 
Depression.
  I wish to point out two things on this chart. The first is that the 
housing prices are projected to decline overall across the Nation by 
nearly 16 percent. We know that most Americans, most middle-class 
Americans in this country who are in a home have most of their equity, 
their value in life, tied up in their home. So when you have a decline 
in their home values by 16 percent, you are impacting the American 
homeowners in a very significant way. That is why, when we talk about 
the foreclosure crisis which is facing America, it is not about those 
who are on the verge of losing their homes; it is about all American 
homeowners because of the kind of price decline we are seeing in values 
in homes all across America.
  A 16-percent decline in home values, I would suspect, is something 
that is of grave concern to most Americans. I would think this Chamber, 
as well as our colleagues in the House of Representatives, as well as 
the White House, should be saying that as part of an economic stimulus 
package, we ought to pivot over to the housing issues that face America 
and do something to restore confidence in the housing markets of 
America.
  Another indicator from Moody's, as you see in this chart, is with 
respect to housing starts. You look at the trough in housing starts in 
the 1980s, where housing starts declined to about 58 percent. Well, the 
economists are telling us now that given the high rates of foreclosure, 
what is happening is there is no end in sight. This red line has no end 
in sight, where you have a 60-percent decline in housing starts. We do 
not know how far that is going to go. When you have that kind of 
decline in housing starts, you are going to be affecting several 
hundred thousand Americans who are in the job market as part of the 
housing industry.
  So these statistics, which are national statistics out of Moody's, 
should be telling us all that we should be doing something about the 
housing crisis here in America.
  I am certain the Presiding Officer from Ohio can paint a similar 
picture about the housing problems in Ohio because there is a problem 
in the Presiding Officer's State as well as Florida and Nevada and 
California and many other States around the country.
  When I look at what the housing crisis means for the 5 million people 
in Colorado, it tells me we have a severe problem in my State as well. 
Today in Colorado, 1 out of every 376 homes is in foreclosure. That is 
the highest rate of foreclosure we have seen in the history of the 
State. It is unprecedented. We are not yet at the point where we have 
hit bottom.
  If you look at foreclosures that are expected to occur between 2008 
and 2009 in Colorado, projections are that nearly 50,000 homes--
49,923--will go into foreclosure. For a State with 5 million people, 
that is a significant number. What will that mean in terms of the 
impact on other homeowners around the State? About 748,000 homes are 
going to suffer a significant decline in value. That is about half of 
all the homes in the State of Colorado.
  When Majority Leader Reid, now more than a week ago, came to the 
Chamber and said what we ought to do is pivot off of the economic 
stimulus package, which we worked out with the President, and move 
forward to address some other ailments in the economy--and he said the 
first of those ailments is the housing crisis--he was right. This 
Chamber should have moved forward and started to address the housing 
crisis. Instead, we ended up in 1 of the now 73 filibusters we have had 
to address.
  I hope my colleagues, Republican and Democratic, come back and say: 
No, this is too serious an issue. It is something we have to address 
with the 2008 Foreclosure Prevention Act which Majority Leader Reid had 
filed at the desk and, with amendments, we can try to make sure we have 
an effective remedy for this ailment we are facing in America today.
  When you pick up the newspapers of today, they show this is a problem 
that continues to be at the highest level of attention for our people. 
USA Today, in its headline, talks about how home equity is below the 
50-percent level. That is a figure that came out of the Federal Reserve 
Board yesterday. It is the lowest home equity level since 1945. To me 
that is another clarion call for this Congress to do something about 
the housing issue.
  Pick up the Wall Street Journal from today. It reads: ``Housing and 
Bank

[[Page S1725]]

Troubles Deepen.'' The statistics are all there. We know we have a huge 
problem on our hands in terms of this pillar of the economy ailing. We 
also know this is causing pain to American homeowners, and the dream of 
American home ownership is in jeopardy today.
  I call on my colleagues in the Senate to move forward and address 
this issue in a robust way. I am hopeful in succeeding weeks we are 
able to put together a coalition of Democrats and Republicans who say 
that this housing crisis must be addressed now for the sake of the 
American people.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KYL. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call 
be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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