[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 127 (Tuesday, July 29, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HOUSING AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT OF 2008

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                               speech of

                         HON. SOLOMON P. ORTIZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 23, 2008

  Mr. ORTIZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3221, the American 
Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act.
  This bill provides a long-awaited helping hand to many of our hard-
working citizens, and I commend Chairman Barney Frank and my House 
colleagues for diligently working with the Senate and the 
administration to craft a bill that helps individuals and neighborhoods 
struggling with foreclosure, in addition to ensuring that Fannie Mae 
and Freddie Mac remain on solid footing.
  Owning one's own home is the epitome of the American Dream. 
Unfortunately, too many people have found themselves struggling after 
becoming trapped in complicated, poorly-explained mortgages with 
exploding interest rates. Already, I have received a call from a 
homeowner hoping this bill will help him refinance into a mortgage that 
won't eat up the bulk of his income. With gas prices rising, food 
prices rising, and wages stagnant, most homeowners just don't have the 
money to cover a mortgage payment that jumps by 30 or 50 percent.
  According to the Center for Responsible Lending, one in 35 Texas 
homeowners could face foreclosure in the next 2 years--almost 1,400 of 
them in my district. While this bill won't help all those homeowners, 
it will help many. By providing an avenue for people to remain in their 
homes, paying an affordable mortgage, we help not only those 
individuals, but the neighborhoods that would otherwise be left to deal 
with abandoned and vacant homes.
  As too many neighborhoods and cities are discovering, this housing 
crisis affects more people than just those who lose their homes. It 
affects their neighbors, whose property values are in decline as their 
neighborhoods empty out. It affects cities that must provide services 
yet are losing property tax revenues. Cities and towns are on the 
frontlines of this crisis, and this bill gives them an important tool 
to help neighborhoods recover, by allowing them to purchase and 
rehabilitate foreclosed homes and resell them at cost. I applaud all my 
colleagues in the House for passing this important legislation.

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