[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 1015-1016]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FHA MORTGAGE INSURANCE PREMIUM CUT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, there is no better sign of a healthy 
economy

[[Page 1016]]

than a healthy real estate market. We know this in this country from 
bitter experience since the real estate and financial collapse of 2008.
  In my State in Connecticut, we are barely at a place now where home 
sales and home equity has even come in a positive direction and 
climbing back towards what existed back in 2008 when the collapse 
occurred.
  Listening to the President's speech on Friday where he very 
powerfully talked about the forgotten American, middle class 
individuals and working people who really felt that they were left 
behind in terms of the work that happens in this city, he clearly 
touched a nerve that propelled him to the White House. As I said, it 
was probably the most powerful part of his message that he delivered on 
Friday.
  I mention that because it was astonishing that within an hour after 
taking the oath, President Trump signed an executive order rolling back 
a rate reduction for mortgage insurance for homeowners. What that means 
is that for many homeowners--particularly first-time home buyers--they 
need to have mortgage insurance in order to qualify for a mortgage. 
That ensures that if there is a default, that the mortgage will be paid 
off. It de-risks the loan so that, again, particularly people who are 
first-time home buyers can actually buy a house. The Federal Housing 
Administration, FHA, runs this mortgage insurance program.
  Again, there was a rate reduction that was slated to go into effect 
on January 27, from 0.85 percent down to 0.6 percent. President Trump 
canceled that reduction.
  So what does that mean?
  The National Association of Realtors, which is hardly a partisan 
group, has, in the wake of that order, released numbers that about 
750,000 to 800,000 homeowners are going to be adversely affected by 
losing those savings that are just going to go to the government, by 
the way. Those mortgage premiums basically are paid into the 
government. And right now there is a surplus in that account, which is 
why the rate reduction was slated to go into effect. There is no reason 
for the government to be overcharging for mortgage insurance, given the 
healthy balance that exists in that mortgage insurance account.
  They also calculate that 30,000 to 40,000 home buyers will not buy a 
home in 2017 because of that order that was issued on Friday. Again, 
these are people who--$500 to $1,000, which is going to come out of 
their pocket in terms of higher payments because of this executive 
order--are basically going to be priced out of buying a home. The home 
builders, the realtors, the people who are closest to the market and 
clearly are not partisan--I mean, I know a lot of these guys in my 
district, and they are staunch Republicans in many cases--are 
dumbfounded at the fact that that order, of all things, within the 
first hours of the new administration, would be a priority for, again, 
the new Trump administration.
  We have work to do in terms of getting this economy turned around, 
but if you look at home ownership, home construction, buying a house, 
having a healthy real estate market, that is absolutely the sweet spot 
of trying to succeed in this country. We do not need to be overcharging 
Americans for mortgage insurance, which, again, is the gateway for home 
ownership, particularly at that lower end of the market. Because every 
time someone buys a house for $200,000 or $250,000 in Connecticut, 
which is towards the lower end, or even lower in other parts of the 
country, that frees up existing homeowners either to buy up or to 
retire or get a condo. When those people are locked out--which raising 
these mortgage insurance premiums are going to effectively do--we are 
just stifling the real estate market from recovering. That is a bad 
start in terms of an administration that says it is about growing 
America's economy.
  I will pledge to my constituents that I am going to do everything I 
can to reverse that unwise order and help the folks who are out there 
doing the hard work of selling houses, building houses, hiring people, 
to accomplish their goal because when they succeed, America succeeds.

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