House Passes Legislation to Provide Stability to Struggling Housing Market

Press Release

House Passes Legislation to Provide Stability to Struggling Housing Market

Bill Includes Capito Amendment to Extend Support for Veterans Administration Mortgage Assistance Programs

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) today praised passage of the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, a bill designed to implement long overdue reforms and provide stability to the housing market. It also includes an amendment offered by Capito to expand the tools available to the Department of Veterans Affairs in providing loan guarantees for veterans.

"With the continued uncertainty in the housing market and the economy as a whole, this bill presents an opportunity to provide stability and make long overdue reforms," noted Capito, the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.

"This issue has been at the forefront of the national discussion for nearly a year, and we've now reached a point where we have bipartisan cooperation from the House, the Senate and the Administration. Secretary Paulson and many of my colleagues in the House and Senate deserve credit for their hard work on this ambitious legislation.

"By finally enacting reforms to our government sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and modernizing the Federal Housing Administration, this legislation stands to help our economy turn the page on this difficult period."

The legislation will modernize the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), enabling the federal agency to assist hundreds of thousands of additional borrowers by expanding access to stable mortgage options for low and moderate income borrowers.

The legislation will also provide much-needed upgrades in regulatory oversight of Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Banks - which play a significant role in the U.S. mortgage market.

An amendment to the legislation offered by Capito will also correct a glaring oversight from the Economic Stimulus Act, in which the Veterans Affairs Home Loan Guaranty program was omitted from the expanded conforming loan limits enacted for other federal programs.

"The VA's loan guaranty program provides important support for our veterans and they deserve the same degree of flexibility offered to other federal mortgage programs," said Capito. "With this bill we will finally correct this glaring omission and I am pleased to see that my amendment was included in the final bill."

Conforming loan limits for mortgages backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs will now mirror temporary increases in loan limits for mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE). Under federally guaranteed loans, borrowers may obtain more favorable financing terms because the lender faces less liability for loss.

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