U.S. Economic Conditions

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Driehaus. I thank you for bringing us together on what is a very important topic.

You know, as we look at this very deep and long recession, far longer than some forecasted, we need to look at the root causes of yesterday that bring us to this point in history of today and how we are going to move forward.

I was very much interested in the chart that you shared with us earlier to look at the recent past history and the neglect that has caused such hardship in so many of the communities across this country. And, rightfully, it can be stated that this recession that we are currently enduring was pretty much triggered by the housing crisis, the mortgage crisis, the lending crisis, the foreclosure crisis. And as has been indicated by Representative Kilroy, it impacts in several ways; and we can measure that in very interesting dynamics.

To think of the fact that one out of every 200 homes will be foreclosed upon is a very unraveling thought. That translates to some 3,000 people just in this capital city of Washington, D.C. alone. That is a tremendously difficult burden for communities. When you think of the fact that one child in every classroom in America is at risk of losing her or his home because the parents cannot pay for that mortgage, six in 10 homeowners that wish they understood the terms and details of their mortgages better. And the list goes on and on, all sorts of dynamics that really speak to the trouble that is out there and the impact that has been felt in our communities.

Any number of tipping points can cause this mortgage crisis or this foreclosure crisis. It can range from a job loss in this tough economy, to a health crisis that many families face, to previously missed mortgage payments--or certainly the lack of savings and access to credit, which has been another dynamic that has been dealt with and felt very severely by America's working families.

But on March 5 of this year, several of us--perhaps all of us in this colloquy--were able to stand up on this floor and pass H.R. 1106, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which was our step forward, with the leadership of this House, with Speaker Pelosi determined to make a difference, with the Members of the majority looking to respond as there wasn't a response in the past, with the President and his administration looking to employ certain agencies to help resolve these crises.

We are going to move forward with a plan of action. And we need to make certain that more people are allowed to have a stable, affordable mortgage outcome. We need to work with agencies like the Department of Veteran Affairs and the Federal Housing Administration and the Department of Agriculture to allow people to modify their mortgages so that we can save the day for many homeowners. We need to expand the FHA's mortgage loan modification abilities so that, again, we can bring assistance to so many families.

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