[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 37 (Friday, March 11, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E464]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 FHA REFINANCE PROGRAM TERMINATION ACT

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                               speech of

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 10, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 830) to 
     rescind the unobligated funding for the FHA Refinance Program 
     and to terminate the program, with Mr. Bass of New Hampshire 
     in the chair.

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Chair, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote no 
on H.R. 830, the FHA Refinance Program Termination Act. This bill would 
terminate the authority for the FHA to guarantee new single family 
refinance loans under the FHA refinance program at 97.75 percent of the 
home's value. I am concerned that the Republican plan would kill a 
program that offers a cost effective approach to assisting underwater 
borrowers achieve sustainable long-term homeownership.
  This Congress should be committed to helping struggling homeowners 
stay in their homes. Instead it seems we are taking up measures that 
would only complicate this effort. According to the FHA nearly one 
quarter of American homeowners are underwater on their mortgages. 
Terminating a program that would allow hard-working Americans who are 
current in their mortgages the ability to stay in their homes will only 
add to our nation's foreclosure crisis.
  Mr. Chair, homeownership is the American dream for many families in 
this country. The FHA Refinance Program will give the American people a 
chance to keep their dream alive by allowing lenders the ability to 
write off mortgage principal, at no cost to the tax payer.
  This Congress must stand with the distressed homeowners in this 
country who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Before 
moving forward we should ask ourselves who do we value, and more 
importantly who do we stand with? Congress must stand on the side of 
the homeowners in this country. I urge my colleagues to vote no H.R. 
830.

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