[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3744]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   HOUSING, KEY TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, today we will consider proposals to cut 
foreclosure prevention programs during one of the worst housing 
downturns in our Nation's history. A safe and affordable home is 
central to the American Dream and central to a strong neighborhood and 
a thriving economy.
  In Rhode Island, that dream has been fading because our State has 
been extremely hard hit by the national foreclosure crisis. Last year 
alone, there were more than 4,700 foreclosures in Rhode Island; and 
according to Housing Works Rhode Island, one in every 10 mortgaged 
homeowners was in foreclosure or serious delinquency by the end of last 
year. The fact of the matter is that we still face a serious housing 
crisis all across this country.
  Today, my friends on the other side of the aisle will cut mortgage 
relief and refinance programs that help the very homeowners who need 
them most. That will leave homeowners with no other choice than to turn 
to those who created these unfair and predatory mortgages that got us 
into this mess in the first place.
  At a time when our economy is beginning to recover, we should not be 
cutting from these programs because the housing sector is key to our 
economic recovery. These programs deserve increased funding because a 
successful housing sector will be one of the major factors that will 
pull us out of this recession.

                          ____________________