[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14075-14077]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             HOUSING CRISIS

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I wish to review very briefly before we 
close out this evening and head back to our respective States for the 
Independence Day recess sort of where we are on the housing issue which 
has dominated a good part of the debate over the last week or so in the 
Senate.
  I wish to begin by thanking the majority leader and the minority 
leader for the ability to raise a number of issues which have been 
debated and discussed over the last week or so regarding the effort to 
get this housing crisis back on track. I have said this so often, for 
those who have had to listen to it, it would be redundant, but for 
those who are hearing it the first time: The heart of the economic 
crisis is the housing crisis, and for anyone who doubts it, the heart 
of the housing crisis is the foreclosure crisis. We now have roughly 
8,500 foreclosures a day occurring in the United States.
  This is no longer a question that has merely affected the subprime 
lending market. It has now spread to the prime market area as well. It 
is affecting student loans, municipal finance, commercial financing. It 
has had a tremendous impact on global markets as well. As we all today 
recognize, we live in a world where major economic conditions affect 
not only those of us who live here but elsewhere as well.
  So when we return a week or so from tonight, we will be back on this 
housing bill along with other measures but certainly the housing bill. 
It is with a deep sense of regret that I speak this evening about the 
disappointment I feel over the inability to conclude this matter. It 
would not have taken this Chamber much more than 2 or 3 hours to 
consider all of the amendments that were being offered by Democrats and 
Republicans to this housing measure. But for the actions of one or two 
Members who refused to allow us to go to the debate--not even 
considering amendments we would have disagreed with, it is very 
disappointing to me when you consider that we are now leaving for 
another 8 or 10 days.
  I will remind my colleagues and those who may be interested in this 
that every day we are not in session, and every day we fail to act on 
this measure, somewhere between 8,000 and 9,000 homes, not to mention 
the individuals affected by it, will be filing for foreclosure. So as 
we leave tomorrow and head back to our respective States across the 
country, some 8,000 to 9,000 people will be put at great jeopardy for 
their long-term economic security and potentially losing their homes.
  As we go off and spend our time next week, whether we are spending 
our time with our families or engaging in activities with our 
constituents, on every day we are not here, another 8,000 to 9,000 
people will find their long-term financial security at further risk 
because we could not convince a couple of Members to allow us to debate 
the issues of housing and what we might do. Let me also point out that 
it is only a handful of people.
  Two days ago when we considered the motion to proceed to this matter, 
the vote was 83 to 9. For every vote we have had on this housing 
measure over the last week, the lowest number of votes we have had in 
favor of our proposals was 77. So it is disappointing with that kind of 
a majority, which rarely occurs on any issue let alone one as 
potentially controversial as the housing issue, because we have had 
overwhelming support to move forward. Yet I find myself this evening as 
we conclude our debates on all of these matters unable to conclude this 
issue because of one or two Members who refuse to allow us to even get 
to this issue at all.
  Let me read, if I can, a headline from the business section of the 
Washington

[[Page 14076]]

Post this morning: ``Delinquencies Rise at Fannie Mae and Freddie 
Mac.'' Now let me read the headline from Monday's section of USA Today: 
``New Faces Join Ranks of Nation's Homeless: Renters, Middle Class Hit 
Hard by Rising Foreclosures.''
  The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 would address both of 
these very serious concerns, and more. Our bill establishes a strong, 
new, world class regulator to make sure the housing GSEs are well 
regulated and financially sound. Our legislation provides for a 
voluntary new program that could help anywhere from 400,000 to 500,000 
distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure. The legislation has proven 
time and time again to enjoy strong, bipartisan support, and we have 
made enormous progress over the last number of months. We have worked 
very hard, Senator Shelby and I, my Republican colleague from Alabama, 
the ranking Republican on the committee, and 19 of the 21 members of 
that committee--only 2 dissenters out of the 21 members--to put 
together this package. We worked through a number of amendments, 
accepting some, defeating others. In fact, last night the bill passed 
on the overall Dodd-Shelby proposal 79 to 16. Yet because of a 
technicality involving procedural hurdles that will not let us get to 
final passage, this measure is now being held up by one or two Senators 
because they want yet another vote on a completely unrelated matter.
  Let me review very briefly, if I can, for my colleagues before we go 
into recess exactly what it is we are working so hard to achieve. It 
has a number of key elements, all of which have been supported by 
strong bipartisan votes in either the Banking Committee or the full 
Senate.
  First, the HOPE for Homeowners Act. I have said over and over again, 
this bill, HOPE for Homeowners, is not guaranteed to produce the 
results we want, but what it does do is make it possible for both 
lenders and borrowers to reach an agreement whereby borrowers can stay 
in their homes with mortgages they can afford. The lenders are going to 
reduce their earnings--there is no question about that--but it is not 
going to be zero. So there is an advantage for the lender to be 
involved in this voluntary program. Speculators are not allowed to 
participate. It is only owner occupied residences. It is a temporary 
program. It is a purely voluntary one, but it is one that has been 
tried.
  It was actually tried many years ago, back in the 1920s and the 1930s 
when we had the Great Depression in this country, and the Federal 
Government actually purchased distressed mortgages. We are not doing 
anything like that. We are actually insuring these mortgages, allowing 
these people who are running the risk of losing their homes to stay in 
those homes, and thus bring us to a floor, if you will--a bottom--of 
this housing market, this mortgage market that would allow capital to 
begin to flow again. It is a very important proposal.
  I must tell my colleagues that we have listened to countless 
witnesses in over 50 hearings over the last year and a half of the 
Banking Committee. Witnesses have come from the entire breadth of the 
political spectrum and all of them have concluded that this idea is 
worthy of a try.
  So while I cannot stand here this evening and promise miraculous 
results, it is our best judgment--this is our best effort--of what we 
can do in this body to offer some relief at this moment.
  The second proposal that is part of this bill is the GSE reform, 
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These are important sources of liquidity in 
the residential mortgage market. They have provided a great source of 
relief during this time. Our bill reforms these institutions in such a 
way that we have a strong regulator requiring certain capital 
requirements and the like. It has been tried for the last 6 years to 
achieve what we have in this bill. It has failed in every other 
attempt. This final proposal, which we crafted over the last number of 
weeks, enjoys broad-based bipartisan support.
  The third feature of this bill, which has received less attention 
than the two points I have made, may be the provision which has more 
lasting implications than anything else we have done.
  The homeowners bill is a temporary one. It dies in 2 or 3 years; it 
will go out of existence. But the affordable housing provisions of the 
bill are permanent. We will generate revenues that will make it 
possible for people to have rental housing in the future that they 
could not even begin to imagine under present circumstances. That is a 
very important part of the bill as well.
  We include, as a result of the work of the Finance Committee, under 
the leadership of Senators Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, 
mortgage revenue bonds, relief for first-time home buyers, tax credits 
that would allow them to purchase foreclosed properties or others.
  We have provisions dealing with counseling services, which are very 
important as people try to work out arrangements with lenders to stay 
in their homes. It has been called the most broad-sweeping housing 
legislation in more than a generation. All because of one or two 
Senators, I was unable to complete that bill this evening. As a result 
of the leadership of Harry Reid, our majority leader, we will be back 
on this bill when we return Monday, July 7. We will have a cloture vote 
that day and then move, 48 hours later or so, to a second cloture 
motion, which should allow us to come to a final conclusion on the 
bill.
  I am deeply saddened that, as we go into this Independence Day 
recess, we were not able to complete action on this proposal. I say to 
the American people, as we leave for 10 days, we have done something 
that will offer you some hope, some sense of optimism, some sense of 
confidence that your Senate, your Congress was not unmindful of your 
concerns and worries. Nothing provides greater stability to a family, 
to a neighborhood, to a community than home ownership. It is one of the 
great dreams of most American families to be able to have their own 
home, to watch equity increase in those homes, to be able to provide a 
stable environment for your family and children. Yet we see with the 
ever-increasing foreclosure crisis in the country, as I mentioned, some 
8,400 foreclosures every day in the country--that dream, that hope is 
evaporating for too many American families. So this bill would have 
provided real relief. Unfortunately, we could not get to it.
  I would be remiss if I didn't mention at the same time, of course, we 
are simultaneously or are about to provide economic relief to 17 
telecom companies who were engaged in activities that were highly 
questionable in the vacuuming up of private information of millions of 
Americans and their families, private telephone conversations, e-mails, 
faxes, and the like. That is part of the so-called Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Act. While I have deep concern about those who would do us 
great harm, I am deeply disturbed that that issue seems to be taking 
greater priority than this home ownership issue, Medicare relief, and 
the families across the country.
  I wish to conclude my remarks this evening, as we prepare to leave 
this city and return to our respective States, by saying that at a time 
when we could have done something meaningful for an awful lot of 
people, to offer them some hope, some renewed sense of confidence and 
optimism, we missed that opportunity. I didn't want the evening to end 
without expressing my disappointment.
  Simultaneously, I offer a note of optimism. When we come back 10 days 
from now, this will be a priority item. The majority leader, to his 
credit, talked about this eloquently and often over the last several 
days. He is committed that this issue will be a priority item when we 
return. As such, we will eventually conclude passage of this bill, and 
we will work with the House of Representatives to adopt a compromise 
measure and be able to offer some hope that people can remain in their 
homes--at least many will--with the hope that they can stay there, 
raise their families, and that we can once again see capital begin to 
flow in critical areas of investment in this country.

[[Page 14077]]

  I am grateful to the Presiding Officer and to others who are here to 
hear these concluding remarks. Again, I felt it was important to 
identify exactly what the situation was as we concluded our business 
this evening.
  With that, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________