[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 193 (Tuesday, November 28, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H9437-H9438]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CONNECTICUT'S CRUMBLING FOUNDATIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to talk about a positive, 
encouraging decision that occurred last week for the State of 
Connecticut that was issued by the Under Secretary of the Treasury, 
David Kautter. It concerned a terrible problem that has swept through 
the State best known as crumbling foundations.
  Due to some outstanding journalism that took place over the last 
couple of years by a TV reporter by the name of George Colli, Jr.; 
Hartford Courant editorial writer Carolyn Lumsden, who did a series on 
this problem; and Journal Inquirer's Eric Bedner, who has been 
consistently reporting on this issue, it came forward and was flushed 
out to the public that a quarry in north central Connecticut was 
supplying aggregate concrete for homes over the last 30 years that 
contained a material known as pyrrhotite.
  Pyrrhotite is a metal substance which, when it is exposed to moisture 
over a period of time, oxidizes or rusts and creates a sickening spider 
web cracking that ultimately compromises the foundation on homes. 
Estimates run as high as 19,000 homeowners who unknowingly have this 
form of concrete that threatens probably their family's biggest asset, 
namely, their home.
  As you can see in this picture, this is an example of a home in 
Coventry, Connecticut, where the home was lifted with a house jack and 
the contractor, Don Childree, was actually able to remove the concrete 
by hand. That is how compromised and unstable the home was because of 
this terrible problem.
  This picture shows an example of a condominium project that was 
completely jacked up for the repairs, which involved jacking up the 
house, removing the old foundation, pouring a new foundation, and then 
lowering and reconnecting the condominium to the new foundation.
  For a homeowner of a rather average-size house, we are talking about 
repairs that total as much as $150,000 to $200,000. In some cases, it 
almost surpasses the family's value in their home.
  It has set off a wave of litigation and claims against property 
casualty insurers, with mixed results. The property casualty policies, 
in many cases, require only coverage for a sudden collapse as opposed 
to something that happens over a period of time.
  It is devastating for the homeowners who are affected by this. It 
affects about 40 communities in north central and eastern Connecticut.
  On Wednesday, the Treasury Department issued a ruling extending the 
property casualty loss Tax Code provisions to allow these homeowners to 
take a deduction for their loss. This was a 19-month process which took 
place, from my office, with an outstanding staffer, Beata Fogarasi; 
from Congressman John Larson's office in the Hartford area with an 
outstanding staffer by the name of Sylvia Lee; and with Under Secretary 
Kautter, who issued the ruling that will provide safe harbor for people 
who have suffered a loss to be able to claim that on their tax returns.
  We had the support of the departing IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, 
as well as the National Taxpayer Advocate, who endorsed this request 
last year under the prior administration--two administrations working 
with Members of Congress, presenting the facts and the law and getting 
a decision which, actually, is a positive move forward for homeowners 
who are in this affected region.
  It showed the interplay of the free press, of the organizing that 
took place, and the Connecticut Coalition Against Crumbling 
Foundations, led by Tim Heim from Willington, Connecticut. Organized 
homeowners did rallies, did town halls, brought their case forward, and 
it resulted in real change. The needle moved to allow people much-
needed relief.
  We have more work to do. As Winston Churchill said: ``This is not the 
end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is the end of the 
beginning.''
  The decision the day before Thanksgiving by the Treasury Department

[[Page H9438]]

gave great hope to these homeowners that, actually, the system can 
work, and that is probably the most powerful emotion that people took 
away from the decision that took place on Wednesday.
  We are going to continue to move forward to help people, middle 
class, hardworking people who pay their bills, have invested in their 
life's biggest asset, their home, to make sure that they are protected 
and they get help.

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