Senate Proceeding on Apr 3rd, 2008 :: 7:11:24 to 7:26:10
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7:03:07 to 7:11:24( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Patty Murray

7:11:12 to 7:11:24( Edit History Discussion )

Patty Murray: know he's on the floor here ready to speak as well, and i yield my time. t a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york's recognized. gn mr. schumer: thank you, madar:m

7:11:24 to 7:11:40( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: president, and i am proud to rise in support of the amendment a offeredof by the senator from washington, the senator from pennsylvania, the senator fiarom ohio, and myself. and i first want to thank senator

7:11:24 to 7:26:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Charles Schumer

7:11:40 to 7:11:55( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: murray forto her leadership on this issue.th this is crucial and shehe was able when senatorsor casey, brown, and i sent her a requesteq to include this money first the appropriations bill and then in

7:11:55 to 7:12:09( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: the omnibus bill. senators dodd and bond offered an amendment for another $100 million, and by the time we got through conference, $180 million was offered. i want to thank allto off my colleague,

7:12:09 to 7:12:24( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: we have senators clinton, menendez, and kerry, a,s cosponsors of our amendment. nd mr. president, as youde know, we're in the midst of a massive spike of mortgageor delinquency and foreclosures. as

7:12:24 to 7:12:45( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: you know, housing prices are going down at record levels. we haven't seen housing prices go down this much since the depression. and our economy -- the national economy is heading southward. where's

7:12:45 to 7:13:05( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: the president? the p resident has been in buick rest -- buicka --a he is literally in today, but he has been there for month whe mn's it comes to the economy and housing. he is nowhere to be seen here.

7:13:05 to 7:13:20( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: foreclosure filings are soaring, they'ree up 57% in january from -- from december to january alone foreclosuresor increased 8%. the 57% is over the year. hope foreclosure filingsgs topped 1.3 millio

7:13:20 to 7:13:37( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: n in 2007 and more than two millionil are likelyik now. we are aware of the havoc this has wreaked in neighborhoods, on main street, on wallt, street, andtr throughout the nation, and even the world.or

7:13:37 to 7:13:55( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: so it's amazing, madam presid ent, that with all of these problems rippling out from housing foreclosures that a simple additionit could greatly at amill rate the problem. and t hat addition a iss

7:13:55 to 7:14:10( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: of mortgage counselors. why you ask. why should a mortgage counselorel help solve not justus problems p of individual foreclosures, f but of declining housing prices, a decliningconomy, and financial ripples

7:14:10 to 7:14:27( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: throughout the world in london and shanghai. the answer is simple, the majority -- the majority of those in foreclosure do not have to have their houses foreclosed upon tuphem. they have the resources

7:14:27 to 7:14:48( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: and the price o f their home is such that a simple refinancing would work. and in the old days, madam president, when banks were the only issuer of mortgages, they issued them and held them, none of

7:14:48 to 7:15:04( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: this would have happened.pe the mortgage counselor from the bank would have gone over to the homeowner and helped him or her h rework things.re~ those in foreclosure or about to go into foreclosure

7:15:04 to 7:15:17( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: are prime borrowers. most of them, the majority, are in home refinancings, not new hoped. and many of those were just duped through no fawflt their own. a mortgage cowns -- through no fault of their own. a

7:15:17 to 7:15:31( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: mortgage counselor on the scene, provided there are th dollars to refinance, can help that homeowner refinance. i would ask unanimous consent that senator klobuchar, madam president, the presiding officer,

7:15:31 to 7:15:51( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: be added to our amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and thank her for always being on top of things. in any case,as a mortgage counselor could easily do thehe job in so

7:15:51 to 7:16:01( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: many cases but there are none around. foreclosure counselors are skilled and work there are groups throughout the country that do thisdo it well with very little waste and miscommunication. ca and

7:16:01 to 7:16:13( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: so that is why senators casey and brown and i went to senator murray and asked her to put this in the omnibus bill that. is why she did it, and that t is why senators bond and dodd added additional money

7:16:13 to 7:16:27( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: in an m amendment. we need these people. now, i'd like to tell a story. i've told it bef tore on thisn floor but i want to make sure people hear about it that shows the needs fords counselors. it's

7:16:27 to 7:16:40( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: about frank rugeriro, a homeowner from ozone park, queens. frank's' retired subway motorman. had a salary, a, pension, rather,r, of $28,000 a year, social security of $11,000 a year, $39,000 income

7:16:40 to 7:16:59( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: a year. and he lived in his nice little brick house. he a mortgage for $1,100 a month or about $12,000 a year and happily paid the mortgage for 16 years of the 30-year 3 mortgage. or and then frank

7:16:59 to 7:17:10( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: got diabetes. he needed $50,000 for some kind of treatment that his medical plan wouldn't pay for. and instead of going to the bank, which was frank's mistake -- because banks have not caused this

7:17:10 to 7:17:23( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: problem. it's the independent mortgage brokers unrelated, the independent mortgaget companies,pa unregulated, that caused it. and he saw an ad in the paper from one of these fiends -- because they're not

7:17:23 to 7:17:35( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: all fiends but this person was -- that said get quick cash. refinance your home. frank called and he c aomes over. frank says, how much more will i pay? he says, oh, you'll pay a hundred dollars nor january.

7:17:35 to 7:17:52( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: and frank says, well, i can easily afford $1,200 a month to cure my diabetes, that's easily wot it. he signs a new 30-year mortgage. sure enough, his mortgage only went up to $1,200 in january. what

7:17:52 to 7:18:10( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: he was never told that was the following january, his mortgage would go up to $3900 -- go up to $3,900 a month. it's easy math. that is about $47,000 a year. frank's total income is $39,000 a year.

7:18:10 to 7:18:24( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: even if he didn't pay one nickel for the whole year for any food or heat or taxes, he couldn't pay it. what happened? and this really more relates to my colleague from california's amendment. the mortgage

7:18:24 to 7:18:36( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: broker was paid a huge commission to dupe frank. he duped him legally because there are no regulations. on the big document frank sig fned on page 23 in language -- i'm a lawyer, but i couldn't understand

7:18:36 to 7:18:48( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: it -- six months m after libor, after this, after that... it said the mortgage would go up that much but no right person p would understand it. it wasn't in plain english? it was n't available.

7:18:48 to 7:19:02( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: and the mortgage broker mkeade a huge fee, walked off intdo the sunset and frank was about to lose his home. but the irony, madam president, is frankas a prime borrower. he had never missed a payment

7:19:02 to 7:19:18( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: on his mortgage. he had neverad missed a payment on his credit card. his fico score was above 700. he easily could refinance. frank's a good customer for ar lending i nstitution. but there w no one

7:19:18 to 7:19:31( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: to help him h him. there noth bank. it was -- there was no bank. it was a mortgage broker, independent, who got help from a mortgagor company, independent -- both independent, which relates to my friend

7:19:31 to 7:19:46( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: from california's amendment -- and the broker rode off into the sunset. and mortgage company didn't hold the peerks they chopped it up into 40 pieces and gave it to some securities com spany and

7:19:46 to 7:20:00( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: it'snd now scattered amongst many investors in thousands of pieces in with different and varying degrees of liability. if there were a mortgag a counseloon the scene, that mortgage counselor could

7:20:00 to 7:20:12( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: easily help frank refinance. in and you say, where would they get the money from refinancing? madam president, good news. finally off months of prodding from myself, senator dodd and others, fannie

7:20:12 to 7:20:25( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: mae and freddie mac havec made $200 million available for these mortgages. but the dollars r tesident going oi to walk over to frank's house in ozone park, queenars, and say "here we are." you need

7:20:25 to 7:20:36( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: a mortgage counselor. and that is what the senator from washington and the senator from pennsylvania and the senator from ohio's amendments and my amendmentme does. it simply provides more mortgage counselors.

7:20:36 to 7:20:49( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: it's not a huge sugcience. you don't need a ph.d. in mathematics or anth accounting degree to be a mortgage counselor. you have to take ave course and ndlearn it. it's easy. for the various groupsar

7:20:49 to 7:21:00( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: that have done this for years but weren't faced wit the flood of foreclosures to do it again. and we couldld probably prevent about 50% of all the foreclosures tha t are about to happen, maybe even

7:21:00 to 7:21:15( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: more. because 60% are prime borrowers, and even some of the nonprime borrowers could be helpedd by this, depending on the value of their home and the cost of their mortgage and the mortgage processing

7:21:15 to 7:21:29( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: agreement. so that's all we want toll do. and in this package originallyll that we off ered about three weeks ago, there was $200 million. that's not enough. senator murray and i and others wanted towa ask

7:21:29 to 7:21:43( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: for $500 million but we were asked by the majority leader to keep the costs down so we offeredff $200 million. $200 million is not enough. we need more than that. of now, we didappropriate $180 million

7:21:43 to 7:21:51( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: in the omnibus bill -- $180 million in the omnibus bill as i mentioned before t hat senator murray put together, or at least part of it. and now there's tal nk we don't need the $180 million. theyn. haven't

7:21:51 to 7:22:10( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: even spent that. why give them more? sheer ar letter, madam president, and i ask unanimous consent it be added into the record. the presidin g officer: without itobjection, so ordered. mr. schumer: it's a

7:22:10 to 7:22:27( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: letter dated yesterday to senator dodd and senator shelby signed by -- oh, man, about a hundred organizations that do this saying the following -- quote -- "wee respectfully request tcthat you fund

7:22:27 to 7:22:39( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: this program for not less than $200 $ million, as was initially proposed by senator reid in 2636." and they say that they've received applications for $340 million in grants, twice the $180 million

7:22:39 to 7:22:52( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: congress appropriated. several states were underrep resented in the original applicant pool because they hadn't seen high rates of foreclosure but no many of them have applied. of the $180 million,

7:22:52 to 7:23:04( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: $130 m illion has already been spent in a short six weeks and the only reasone the rest hasn't been spent is they're keeping it aside for aid very rainy dayment they could spend that in a minute if

7:23:04 to 7:23:24( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: we were to ask them to in rep ort language should this bill get that far, which i hope and pray it does. 10 we need the t money. it's not much money. we're putting $4 billion in for cdbg. that's

7:23:24 to 7:23:40( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: worthy. but my friends, it's not as important as mortgageag counselors. we're putting $6 billion in for lost -- for the loss carryback provisions, theis f.o.l.'s to help h home builders. we can't afford

7:23:40 to 7:23:49( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: a need $100 million more for mortgage counselors who do more good to prevent foreclosure and provide more bang for the buck than any t other part of this bill, bar none? why they $100 million was cut

7:23:49 to 7:24:00( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: out, i would told they said they didn't need it. i this letter provesr conclusively that they need it, and it's now in the record. and i w ould urge my colleagues to look at it. we desperately need

7:24:00 to 7:24:12( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: it. and so i hop ie we'll have bipartisan support for this amendmen t. senator bond, who's been a leader on these issues, supported the amendment with senator dodd to put the original 200 millionil

7:24:12 to 7:24:26( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: in. this is hardly a partisan issue. this is not, ofof course, billed across $115 billion.io another $100 billion isn't going to make that much of a difference, especial when we're doing $6 billion

7:24:26 to 7:24:40( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: for thehe -- especially when we're doing $6 billion for the loss carrybacks andyb $4 billion for cdbg. and i would urge my colleagues c to support it. it is a much-needed amendmentne that will do tremendous

7:24:40 to 7:24:54( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: good. it will help thel frank lugio's and the millions like him keep their homes t. will prevent housing prices in neighborhood and then in the country from declining more t han they have to to.

7:24:54 to 7:25:10( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: it will stabilize mortgage markets and dhus stabilize many of our largest banks and institutions both here and abroad. so this little amendment is sort of like mighty might. it is small, it's at the

7:25:10 to 7:25:30( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: center but it has tremendous power to ripple outwardut and affect us positively. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it so we might strengthen this bill bill. and i yield the

7:25:30 to 7:26:10( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: floor. mrs. feinstein: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california is recognized. mrs. feinstein: madam president, i don't see the republican sid re on the floor, although i -- if