[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3524-3525]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1210
                         THE FORECLOSURE CRISIS

  (Ms. EDWARDS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to highlight the foreclosure 
crisis and recognize the thousands of distressed families in my 
district and across the country who continue to battle foreclosure. In 
Maryland our

[[Page 3525]]

foreclosures approached nearly 800,000 in the fourth quarter of 2010. 
This crisis hits particularly hard in my district, where we have about 
40 percent of our foreclosures statewide.
  The foreclosure prevention and mitigation programs the Republican 
majority wants to terminate this week have helped thousands of 
hardworking families to stay in their homes and mitigated the effects 
of declining property values in neighborhoods across the country. Now, 
I know they're not perfect, but terminating these programs does not one 
single thing to spur the economy or protect middle class families in 
need. In fact, the effect is quite the opposite.
  My colleagues claim that the programs haven't delivered on their 
promises. So what? What about the families who have benefited from the 
programs? What about the 1.2 million families that will face 
foreclosure this year?
  This is another case of trying to throw the baby out with the bath 
water. Enough of that already. It's a simple question: Whose side are 
you on? Families, workers, working families, protecting their homes and 
communities; or are you on the side of the banks that want to take 
their homes?

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