[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4643]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




BUSH ADMINISTRATION WILLING TO BAIL OUT BEAR STEARNS BUT NOT STRUGGLING 
                                FAMILIES

  (Mr. CARNAHAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CARNAHAN. Madam Speaker, while the Bush administration has had no 
problem bailing out Wall Street firms at taxpayers' expense, it has 
opposed efforts to help ordinary homeowners. As many as 2.8 million 
Americans could lose their homes in the next 5 years due to the 
subprime mortgage crisis. Housing prices have dropped so much that 
homeowners' debt on their houses exceeds equity for the first time 
since 1945, and now more than 10 percent of homeowners have mortgage 
loans that are larger than the value of their homes.
  These troubling signs have been before the administration for many 
months, but they have refused to bring forth a proposal to address them 
until yesterday, and that mainly addresses only regulatory issues.
  Fortunately, this Congress did not follow the White House's lead. 
This House has already passed legislation this year that would expand 
affordable mortgage loan opportunities for families at risk of 
foreclosures.
  Madam Speaker, this is only the beginning. We can't do this alone. 
The President must finally recognize there is a problem and be willing 
to sign these bills into law when they get to his desk.

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