National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011

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Ms. TITUS. I thank the chairman.

The purpose of this amendment is to provide the Secretary of Defense the flexibility to change the effective date of the Homeowners Assistance Program for members of the Armed Forces permanently reassigned during the mortgage crisis. The program, as approved by Congress last year, allows active-duty servicemembers to be partially reimbursed for losses occurring as a result of having to sell their home upon being reassigned. Under current law, a servicemember must have purchased his or her home before July 1, 2006, in order to qualify for assistance.

My congressional district is home to a number of servicemembers from Nellis Air Force Base and the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Program at Creech Air Force Base.

Many of these armed servicemembers were assigned to southern Nevada at the height of the housing boom when prices were fueled by out-of-control and reckless speculators. They, and others around the country, purchased homes at what was then a fair market price. Now, due to no fault of their own, however, many of these homes have lost a significant amount of their value. A problem arises because servicemembers are now receiving Permanent Change of Station orders and are being reassigned to a new area.

A number of servicemembers from around the world have contacted us saying that this date, July 1, 2006, was set too early to achieve the intended goals of the program. Accordingly, our amendment provides the necessary flexibility to the Secretary of Defense to change this date in specific geographic areas where housing price declines trended behind the national average.

It's important to keep in mind that most of these servicemembers had no choice in the timing of their transfer and relocation and are, therefore, unintended victims of the arbitrary deadline.

This amendment is modeled after legislation introduced in December, which had 27 bipartisan cosponsors. It's also been endorsed by a number of military family organizations who recognize its importance.

I thank Chairman Skelton for his support in working with me, and I urge our colleagues to vote for the amendment.

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