Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first, let me thank my good friend the Senator from Illinois for those great words. We have had police officers in New York hit the same way. There is a bridge in New York on Southern State Parkway that we named after an officer who died a few years ago in the same situation, and I thank Lucy for caring and pushing hard.

Nomination of Mark Anthony Calabria

Mr. President, I rise in strong opposition to the nomination of Mark Calabria to become the Director of FHFA. I hope every Senator who has homeowners in their districts will pay attention here.

For decades we have had Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac providing mortgages at lower rates for people because there is a Federal guarantee. Because housing is such an important part of our economy, it stimulates jobs and the growth in the economy.

It is utterly amazing that, once again, we are in a sort of ``Alice in Wonderland.'' The nominations from this administration go directly in the face of what I bet almost every Member on the other side believes--that interest rates should be low for mortgages and that there should be some kind of Federal guarantee.

Well, here is what Dr. Calabria believes. First, he believes that the 30-year mortgage is not necessarily part of our Federal housing finance system. He believes that Fannie and Freddie guarantees should be no higher than $200,000.

I would ask Dr. Calabria to visit some of the middle-class neighborhoods of New York--policemen, firemen, teachers, construction workers. Their homes would be put in jeopardy by this, and a home is the middle class's piece of the rock.

What the heck are we doing around here?

President Trump doesn't pay attention to who the nominees are. They are put forward by Mick Mulvaney, who believes in no government involvement in anything, and people get hurt.

What about the young couple with a new job, a new baby? They want to buy their first home. What about the person of color? Finally, when zoning laws and other things have changed, they can get a home. What about parents who are about to retire and want to sell their home so that they can move to smaller quarters and have a little bit of extra money? What about grandparents? To put in somebody who wants to undo the FHFA and undo our rock solid housing system would be ridiculous.

I hope my colleagues will listen. If you believe in homeownership, if you believe the middle class ought to have homeownership, you can't support somebody who wants to eliminate Federal guarantees, who wants to lower the amount, and who wants to say that the 30-year mortgage, which has had such a success in America, should no longer be the bedrock of our system.

I hope people will look at who this nominee is and vote no. I certainly will.

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