[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9514]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  HOUSING CRISIS IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY

  (Mr. CARDOZA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CARDOZA. I rise today to remind my colleagues that the housing 
crisis continues to devastate across this country. My constituents in 
Merced, California, near my hometown of Atwater, are suffering from 
19.9 percent unemployment, the highest rate of foreclosures in the 
Nation, and a 70 percent loss of their home equity over the last 3 
years.
  They have seen their community banks fail and their businesses on 
Main Street close their doors for good. Simply put, the Central Valley 
is experiencing an economic tsunami that will leave the Central Valley 
struggling for many years.
  That is why I'm working on legislation to devise an Economic Disaster 
Area designation--so places like my district, whose communities have 
been disproportionately affected by the country's recession, can 
receive additional Federal funding they need to keep from falling off 
the maps.
  I'm asking my colleagues to support me in my efforts to create this 
Economic Disaster Area designation and to help my constituents and the 
entire Central Valley recover from this economic downturn.

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