Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005

FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE REFORM ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - October 26, 2005)

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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and for inviting me to address the Garrett amendment, which comes up next, and to urge that we oppose that amendment.

I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for including in the bill when it left our committee language proposed by the gentleman from California (Mr. Gary G. Miller) and myself to raise the conforming loan limit in certain areas.

The reason we have these GSEs is to help middle-class families achieve the dream of homeownership. Since the beginning, we recognized that a middle-class family cannot find a home in Alaska and Hawaii at the same amounts with the same level of mortgage as in the other 48 States. So we have always had a higher limit for those States. We now must recognize that in Los Angeles, New York, and certain other areas, housing prices are every bit as high as in some parts of Alaska and Hawaii. And that is why the bill that we need to defend from the Garrett amendment provides for a conforming loan limit, that is either as high as it is in Alaska and Hawaii or such lower amount as equals the average home price in that area.

We have middle-class families in my district, a police officer married to a teacher, trying to get a home. Do not deprive them of the benefits of these GSEs on the theory that they are wealthy. They are not.

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