The HAMP Termination Act of 2011
Floor Speech
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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, this bill is just like saying, ``You know what, you said you were going to give us a loaf of bread, but you only gave us a slice. So because you didn't give us the whole loaf, we're going to take all of the bread away, even the slice.''
Because the program isn't as successful as it could be, we ought to be getting in here and doing something about all the foreclosures across America as opposed to what the majority wants to do, which is get rid of even the meager program that exists.
This is unresponsive government. This is government that is turning its back and folding its arms on the American people. We've got 4 million foreclosures, and may end up with 7 million, and yet instead of trying to make a program work, we just get rid of the whole thing. This is a really sad day and a big mistake.
If you want to get up here and criticize the HAMP program, you can do that. But you know what: The HAMP program has come up with more than 600,000 active modifications. That's not nearly enough of what we need, but it has done something. Rather than get the program right, we abandon all those people who are underwater, all those people who are in foreclosure. That is a shame, and it's wrong.
Now let me say, Mr. Chairman, the fact is that this program, this HAMP program that we're terminating today, this program, doesn't do anything to put Americans back to work. It doesn't do anything at all. The Republican majority has been here for 13 weeks and all they've done is cut programs that could put people to work. They haven't tried to fix anything that's not working. They've just tried to cut back on what America needs.
So that we will be in a position when people aren't working, they won't be paying taxes, we won't be even addressing this deficit because of the Republican no jobs agenda. It's really too bad. We were sent here to do something about jobs. We were sent here to do something about foreclosures. We're not doing anything about either, because the Republican majority refuses to address it.
One of the biggest problems with the HAMP program, now that we're on that subject, is that we did just allow incentives. We didn't really make the banks and the services do what they should do, which is to readjust these mortgages. People bought at bubble prices based on Republican majority decisions to not regulate, to abandon consumer protection, and this bubble market created expansive and big prices. The loans people got, we didn't see consumers get protected from no doc, low doc, NINJA loans. We didn't see any protection for the American taxpayer with any of these financial regulations involving derivatives. And yet when the bubble burst, the people are there to try to pick up the pieces.
But what does the Republican majority do? They just take away the one slice that might help some people instead of trying to do something to help the American people.
I hope the American people are watching this debate today, Mr. Chairman. I just hope they take careful note of who is on the side of the American neighborhood, who is on the side of the American people, and who's trying to take away that American Dream.
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Mr. ELLISON. I rise in opposition to the gentleman from New York's amendment and in opposition to the underlying bill today.
Mr. Chairman, the middle class is shrinking, and deficits are rising because Republicans are giving a pass to special interests who cheated American homeowners and wrecked our economy. This is the 13th week of the Republican-controlled Congress. Republicans continue to ignore the people's top priority, which is jobs. Instead of working to keep middle class families in their homes, the Republican plan is to foreclose on the American middle class. The American people sent us here to protect the dream, not to destroy it, not to perpetuate a Wall Street nightmare. Democrats are standing with the American people to create good-paying American jobs and to keep Americans in their homes.
This legislation is just the latest attempt by the Republican majority to end foreclosure programs to help middle class Americans. The majority's housing plan is very simple: foreclose on the middle class. Now that millions of families have already lost their homes, their plan is to hand out foreclosure notices to everybody else.
What's the Republican answer if you lose your home to foreclosure? So be it. What's the Republican answer if your neighbors lose their homes? So be it. What's the Republican answer if you lose your job? So be it.
Mr. Chair, I would like to yield 20 seconds to the gentleman from New York for a question. I am offering the gentleman 20 seconds because I want to ask him a question.
Does the gentleman want to answer the question?
Mrs. BIGGERT. The gentleman is not here.
Mr. ELLISON. How many jobs does this amendment create?
Mrs. BIGGERT. This legislation is to reiterate what the Congressional Budget Office says about----
Mr. ELLISON. Reclaiming my time, the gentlelady hasn't told me the jobs that this amendment, this bill, is going to create.
Mr. McHENRY. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ELLISON. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
How many jobs is this amendment going to create or is this bill going to create?
Mr. McHENRY. Certainly, a multibillion-dollar Federal program doesn't create any real private sector jobs.
Mr. ELLISON. I reclaim my time.
``No jobs'' is the answer from the gentleman from North Carolina. I appreciate his candor.
Mr. McHENRY. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ELLISON. Let me just finish here.
Mr. McHENRY. If the gentleman would yield, I would be happy to explain.
The CHAIR. The gentleman from Minnesota controls the time.
Mr. ELLISON. We are here for the specific purpose of trying to create some jobs and to help the American people create their own dreams. That's about jobs. We've been here 13 weeks, and the majority caucus, Mr. Chair, hasn't created one single job.
I asked the gentleman from North Carolina how many jobs this bill is creating, and he just went off on a tangent somewhere. Now, I'm looking for some kind of a number. I'll even take an estimate.
How many jobs does this bill create?
I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. McHENRY. When you cut Federal spending, you create private sector jobs. When you tax people more, you get less private sector growth.
Mr. ELLISON. I reclaim my time.
Look, we are supposed to be creating jobs around here, Mr. Chair, and we're not creating anything.
The fact is we get spin and we get imaginary arguments and we get failed and flawed economic theory but no answer to the fundamental question, which is, when are the jobs going to start arriving around here?
Mr. Chair, it is a pretty simple question: How many jobs does this bill create? How many families will this bill help keep in their homes? In fact, Mr. Chair, I have three major studies here with me today which I would like to enter into the Record which state very clearly that the Republican spending bill eliminates nearly 1 million jobs. The Economic Policy Institute study shows that the Republican spending bill, H.R. 1, will cut nearly 1 million American jobs. Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics said that the Republican spending bill will cut 1 million jobs. A report from Goldman Sachs says that the Republican spending bill will cut nearly 1 million jobs.
Why is the Republican majority against jobs? Why won't they take a moment to do something about jobs?
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Mr. ELLISON. Well, let me close, then.
We've seen 13 weeks of the Republican majority. The American people made changes and expected jobs. They've gotten zero jobs bills at all. What they've seen is a Republican agenda that cuts 1 million jobs, cuts 1 million jobs, and on this critical issue of Americans keeping their homes, the Republican majority has nothing but to take away the small programs that exist. This is a shame, and I hope the American people are watching this debate today, Mr. Chairman.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. ELLISON. I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, it's important that the American people are well aware that the Republican majority has had 13 weeks to introduce some kind of jobs bill, and they have introduced exactly none. Instead, what they've done is, we read the Constitution, and that's good except for we should probably do it on our own time. And then we have pursued an effort to cut American jobs, and now that we're dealing with housing programs, in the midst of the worst foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression, the Republican majority has nothing to offer except to take away the little program that does work.
The Republican majority's quick to say, oh, those 600,000 people who did get a modification, that's nothing, but to those people that's a lot. To those people, that's home. A responsible majority would say, well, how can we double the numbers, how can we triple them, how can we help Americans stay in their homes? But that's not what we have.
What we have today in America's Congress is a Republican plan to foreclose on the American dream. And so Congressman Quigley offers some very commonsense findings that should be contained within this legislation that point out the fact that as of February 25, $1.04 billion of HAMP funding has been disbursed; that as of January 31, there have been about 500,000-plus active and permanent modifications, about another 145,000 active trial modifications, for a total of well over 600,000 currently active modifications. The record should reflect that, Mr. Chairman, because the record should tell the truth. The record should tell the truth, yes, about problems that need fixing but also about the success that has happened.
It's a shame if we can't pass this very simple commonsense amendment, and we need to pass it today.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out that, in fact, the number $1,518 is accurate for the cost up until to date. That's how much the program has cost. Projected costs are a different matter. And I think if the gentleman digs into the facts, he'll learn that.
But, again, let's talk about the bigger issue at work here. We're talking about a system in which, under Republican control, we have not regulated markets, have not pursued consumer protection, consumers getting into no-doc, low-doc loans, being taken advantage of by unscrupulous individuals whom the Republican majority refused to regulate. Under Republican majorities in Congress and in the White House, this chicken has come home to roost and has wreaked havoc on the American economy. And instead of trying to do something about it, the Republican majority is not doing anything about it.
It's one thing to get up here and say: You know what? That program isn't working very well, and here's somebody who thinks it doesn't work well. I'm quite sure that that story you read is probably true; but, you know what? There are a lot of people whom it did help. And more than that, why don't we fix it? What is the majority's program to deal with foreclosure? Do they have one, or do they just have criticism for what other people propose?
It's easy to be a critic. I'd rather write a critique to a movie than make one. I think making one is tougher, even a bad one. But being a critic is always easy, and the worst movie is better than the best review.
So let me just say, the Republican majority has a responsibility to respond to the American people. They have a responsibility to do something about foreclosures. And I'm hoping to hear somewhere, sometime, today, that they're ready to do something in favor of the American people.
The Republican no-jobs agenda has been exposed, Mr. Chair. The American people know they haven't done anything to create jobs or to protect homes. All they want to do is criticize programs that could use some improvement. They'd rather just get rid of them altogether.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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