[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1190]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   THE FINAL BAILOUT FUNDS MUST BE USED TO ADDRESS FORECLOSURE CRISIS

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, let's discuss our system of checks and 
balances.
  Congress writes hundreds of billions of checks to the banks, and the 
banks, it turns out, don't know their own balances. Banks are not 
lending the money Congress gave them because most banks don't know 
their own balance sheets. We throw in countless dollars into a 
bottomless pit, and we're wondering why new lending is not happening.
  Our Nation's motto is ``In God we trust,'' not ``In banks we trust.'' 
We must verify what the banks are doing with the money we gave them. We 
must get concrete assurances that the rest of the bailout funds be used 
to address the center of the financial crisis in America: That's 
foreclosures. Foreclosures are devastating the American families. A 41 
percent increase in foreclosures in the past year.
  We must get concrete assurances from the new administration that the 
final bailout funds will be used to address the foreclosure crisis and 
help keep millions of Americans in their homes. We must help Americans 
save their homes.

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