[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24397]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HOMEBUYER TAX CREDIT PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, my hometown newspaper, The Seattle 
Times, published a front page story the other day under the headline, 
``First-time Buyers Ignite Home Sales.'' The bottom line is that the 
$8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers is working and should, at a 
minimum, be extended before it expires at the end of November. Some 
experts even suggest expanding the program to anyone buying a home. And 
that's worth considering.
  The tax credit was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment 
Act that the President signed into law in February. It had an almost 
immediate and positive impact on the U.S. housing market, and the data 
proves it. This chart shows that in March, the housing was still in 
free fall. But in April, when the tax credit began to take hold, we see 
the beginning of a steady increase in home sales through August, the 
last month for which figures are available. The tax credit has made 
homeownership a reality for thousands of decent, hardworking Americans. 
Extending it makes financial sense, economic sense, and it especially 
makes middle class sense.
  Across America, prices are stabilizing, and the inventory of homes 
for sale is trending downward toward a point where market forces do not 
favor either the buyer or the seller. When people buy homes, they 
purchase appliances and curtains and a whole list of durable goods, so 
the positive impact of the local economy is more than just the actual 
purchase. It supports other jobs.
  The program is working for America's families and for America. During 
the Congressional debate last winter the National Association of 
Realtors forecast that the first-time homebuyer tax credit would 
generate a half a million homes. The actual number is 1.4 million 
homes. And that benefits local governments too because of real estate 
and other local taxes that help pay for vital community services like 
police and fire.
  If the program is extended and possibly expanded, there is new 
forecast of the impact, and it's very impressive. The second chart 
shows what can happen if we keep going a little longer and jobs and 
wages across the country, including my State, and the congressional 
district, the U.S. would expect 347,000 jobs with wages of $16 billion; 
Washington State, 8,000 jobs, with $375 million in wages.
  The first-time homebuyer credit has nurtured a fragile housing market 
to better health in just 6 months. Even if you're not buying a house, 
you benefit because the housing market is one of the underpinnings of 
our entire economy and is the largest asset for families. So rebuilding 
the housing market helps us rebuild the economy.
  As you can see, there are pending home sales. In this last chart you 
can clearly see that the tax credit is taking the housing market and 
America in the right direction. But this positive news will be 
threatened if we don't take action now. If it takes 60 days for a 
mortgage application to be processed, we are nearing the end by 
November 30. The tax credit is the foundation of the fragile housing 
market recovery that we are expecting to see across this country.
  Now is not the time to mess with success. The homebuyer tax credit 
works, and it keeps it working by extending the program into the next 
year. The Congress should act immediately on this because the slow-down 
is just around the corner if we don't keep the tax credit there.

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