Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2010

Floor Speech

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 -- (Senate - April 01, 2009)

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AMENDMENT NO. 776

Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment, call up my amendment No. 776, and ask for its immediate consideration.

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senators Kaufman and Mikulski be added as cosponsors.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, my amendment is simple and straightforward. It would establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund to monitor FHA-approved loans. The Federal Housing Administration, the FHA, plays an increasingly critical role in promoting home ownership during these tough economic times. The FHA insures one-third of all new mortgages. The number of FHA-approved lenders has doubled in the past 2 years. However, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has not received additional resources to expand its efforts to investigate claims of fraud.

Recent reports of a rise in borrowers who haven't made even one payment suggest that fraudulent activity has increased among FHA-backed loans. Should that activity continue to increase, FHA and its critical work could be put at risk. As we all know, in the runup to the subprime crisis, many fraudulent lenders pushed borrowers into mortgages and refinancings that they could not afford just to collect the commissions and fees. We need to make sure we prevent that activity from migrating to federally insured loans which would put taxpayers at risk for footing the bill of another bailout. This amendment addresses the need for HUD to properly investigate and remove fraudulent lenders from the program wherever appropriate. It creates a deficit-neutral reserve fund--a deficit-neutral fund--to increase the capacity of the inspector general of Housing and Urban Development to investigate cases of fraud of FHA loans.

I am hopeful my colleagues will join in this effort and support my amendment. As we all know, at this critical time when we are trying to make sure there are stimulus funds available and that we are doing all we can in Government to support the ability of the private sector to respond to this economic decline we are in, we need to make sure we have the oversight capability to run programs as effectively and efficiently as possible. That is what this amendment would help accomplish.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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