[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 55 (Tuesday, April 8, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2717-S2719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                HOUSING

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, let me state that we are waiting for 
Senator Dodd to come from the Foreign Relations Committee so that we 
can report the bill and continue moving on the housing bill.
  I have an amendment I wish to offer. I know the Senator from Vermont 
has a modification. I know the Senator from California also has some 
things she wants to do on this bill. But while we are waiting for 
Senator Dodd I wanted to say a few things about housing. I want to say 
a few things about this bill. I have an amendment I wish to offer, but 
I have a lot on my mind about this housing bill. First of all, I have 
very serious questions about the bill itself. The original bill that 
has been brought to the floor takes care of the sharks and the whales, 
but it does not take care of the little people, the minnows. The 
Maryland General Assembly did more in their 90 day session that just 
adjourned than this body has been able to accomplish all year.

[[Page S2718]]

  When you look at that which will actually help ordinary people work 
their way out of the foreclosure mess, the legislation is quite 
Spartan. We lost the bankruptcy provision that would have allowed 
families to put the pieces back together. The original housing bill had 
$200 million going to the nonprofit agencies that are working every day 
with people in those communities to be able to work out their problems. 
Now, this bill is being held hostage by the other party for more tax 
cuts we do not need, bigger bailouts for those who do not need them, 
and it does not help the 8,000 people a day who face foreclosure. We 
need to improve this bill.
  Now, I am so disappointed that Senator Durbin's amendment to amend 
the Bankruptcy Code to allow workouts did not occur. I know Senator 
Murray has an amendment to add more money to the front-line groups 
working with families. I want to thank Senator Murray for offering this 
amendment and I will have a second-degree adding legal help for the 
already overburdened nonprofit counselors.
  I have seen what this housing crisis means, not by reading the Wall 
Street Journal but by getting out there and talking to my own 
constituents, holding roundtables on this subject. What we see is that 
the subprime housing crisis is a code red emergency. Thousands in my 
State got caught up in schemes and scams. They were not Wall Street 
speculators we give a bailout to, they are Main Street Americans who 
need a workout plan.
  My State was hit hard, so at these roundtables we talk to the people 
who were most affected, the people who actually are facing bankruptcy, 
to get their stories, get a picture book of what is going on, talk to 
the nonprofits. But we also talked to the brokers and the Realtors and 
others in their community. I listened and I learned.
  So while everybody here wants to talk about the big macropicture, I 
want to talk about the macaroni-and-cheese issues. I am on the side of 
the little people. I talked to a police officer who works every day, 
putting himself in the line of fire. Because he got into a home equity 
scam and scheme, he is about to lose his home. I talked to a mother, a 
single mother who thought she was part of the American dream, and now 
she is part of the American nightmare.
  If you listen to the nonprofits, housing people, like St. Ambrose 
Housing in my own State, they are trying every day to help people work 
this problem out. What is it that they need? They need a plan to be 
able to do a workout. That is why the bankruptcy amendment was a big 
help. It would have enabled people to responsibly work out their 
problems. But at the same time, those nonprofits are being overwhelmed 
by the sheer magnitude of the caseload.
  When you look in my own State, there are thousands and thousands of 
bankruptcies. In 2006, there were 3,000 foreclosures in Maryland. But 
guess what. In 2007, there were 23,000--23,000 Marylanders are in the 
foreclosure line. The sheer magnitude of the problem these nonprofit 
organizations--many of whom are faith-based--have to come to grips with 
to help these families with advice and counseling shows that we are in 
great difficulty.
  This is why I so support Senator Murray's amendment to add more 
financial resources to these nonprofits to bring on the staff. I salute 
Senator Murray because she brings expertise in housing. But where she 
is a real expert is on people and the suffering people have.
  We believe in working with nonprofit organizations that are out there 
closest to the people to do this. Now, in listening to them, so many of 
my constituents were steamed and scammed. They faced predatory--
predatory--lending procedures. Some people get mugged when they walk 
down a back alley. Here, they got mugged when they sat down to sign up 
for their mortgage or their home equity loan. They were mugged big 
time.
  If you are mugged, you get a lawyer. But if you are in foreclosure, 
you cannot get one. Legal Services barely can help anybody because the 
means testing means that that for a family of four, if you have an 
income over $26,500, you cannot get a legal aid lawyer. Well, if you 
have that kind of income, you were unlikely to be own housing at least 
in many areas of the country.
  But NeighborWorks can offer help. I will offer an amendment later on 
this morning that will add $37.5 million as a second-degree amendment--
$37.5 million to the NeighborWorks effort.
  This NeighborWorks will do three things.
  First of all, they are going to hire more lawyers and more paralegals 
to help the counseling groups help people work out of these predatory 
schemes. Why paralegals? They will maximize the lawyers we already 
have. They will hire more lawyers, particularly those who are 
semiretired or those young lawyers eager to build their skills, and so 
on. NeighborWorks and the experienced lawyers will train them.
  It will provide money to legal organizations to train more attorneys 
in foreclosure law. We have lawyers who want to come forth, but they 
need their training expenses taken care of.
  There are paralegals who are looking to not only work for a law firm 
but to also work for these nonprofits.
  Then for the lawyers in foreclosure law, this would allow them to 
train counselors in some of the basic foreclosure law.
  My amendment, I will offer at a later time, is very simple and very 
straightforward, but wow is it needed. We need to give help to those 
who are trying to practice self-help to the people who are in 
foreclosure, to the nonprofits that are trying to help them, and to the 
lawyers who are trying to advise them.
  Remember, if you were mugged in a back alley, you could have access 
to a lawyer. But if you were mugged when you sat down for a settlement 
on buying a home, you are going to be on your own. You know what. We 
cannot have that. I want to have people feel that we are on their side.
  Again, we do not seek bailouts. We seek workouts. We want to be able 
to help those families be able to restore their financial credit, to be 
able to work out and stay in their home.
  When you have foreclosure on a home, it is a terrible tragedy for the 
family. But it is also a terrible tragedy for the community. So let's 
all work together. Let's pass a housing bill that helps those who are 
in need, those who are losing their home.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Will the Senator withhold the 
suggestion of an absence of a quorum?
  Ms. MIKULSKI. I withdraw my suggestion.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition to comment 
about an amendment which I have to the housing bill. It is amendment 
No. 4392. It was discussed last week.
  The essence of the amendment would provide authority to the 
bankruptcy court to deal with variable interest rate mortgages, where 
we find people have been surprised by the acceleration of obligation. 
It is illustrated by a mortgage where the monthly payments were $1,079 
and then raised to $1,444--an increase which was not expected by the 
borrower. Another illustration of a variable interest rate mortgage is 
where the monthly payments were $1,400, which were raised to $1,900 a 
month.
  This would give the bankruptcy courts authority to deal with these 
changes. Under these circumstances, the borrowers did not know how much 
the payment would be increased. Frequently, there is misrepresentation, 
and on some occasions there is even fraud.
  This amendment was distinguished from the amendment offered by 
Senator Durbin, which would have provided for bankruptcy courts to have 
authority to modify the principal. That was defeated largely because it 
would have created a problem for lending in the future when prospective 
lenders would not have confidence their contracts would be fulfilled.
  I was looking for an opportunity to vote on this matter on Thursday 
afternoon but was called away in my capacity as ranking member on 
Judiciary because of the absence of any other Republican to preside at 
that time.
  I have talked earlier today with the distinguished chairman of the 
committee with a request I have an opportunity to vote on this before 
cloture is imposed, before the cloture vote is taken. I note there are 
a number of

[[Page S2719]]

Senators who have amendments which they wish to offer, and it would be 
my hope and projection that these amendments would not be foreclosed. 
Frequently, on this side of the aisle, the point is raised that we will 
not agree to have cloture to cut off further amendments when our 
Members have not had an opportunity to present their amendments.
  This is a very important bill. The bill is lopsided in favor of Wall 
Street over Main Street. We have seen the situation with the bailout of 
Bear Stearns. This bill contains provisions which will help the big 
guy, so to speak, with the credit for purchases of homes, with the tax 
credit for those who buy homes in foreclosure, and with the provisions 
carrying losses forward.
  This bill, as noted by Senator Dodd, does not adequately take care of 
the so-called little guy. The amendment which I wish to have voted upon 
would be a significant move in that direction. So I hope we will have 
an opportunity to vote on my amendment and to give other Senators an 
opportunity to present amendments to give better balance to this bill.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask to speak as in morning business. I 
might ask the Chair, is the Senate in morning business?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The time in morning business has 
expired, and the Senator can speak in morning business by unanimous 
consent.
  Mr. BAUCUS. I might ask, Mr. President, if we are not in morning 
business, then what is the parliamentary situation?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. To make a unanimous consent 
request, that you can.
  Mr. BAUCUS. The Chair is assuming my intention, which I will ignore 
at this moment.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning 
business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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