Political Quotes

“to begin, I think I should make some general comments about my concern and about my ability to work with the distinguished chairman of the committee on affordable housing programs. We have worked a long time on these programs together, and he and I, together, pushed for $180 million for counseling for families facing foreclosure. We have gotten that passed. I have been out and talked with the people who are victims, the people who are helping them, the local officials, and that is working. Based on what I learned from talking to the people who are suffering from this foreclosure epidemic and from the real problems in the subprime market caused by predatory lending, which the Senator from Maryland, Ms. Mikulski, and I tried to get HUD to stop a few years ago, we came up with a solution. That solution I offered on the floor: the Security Against Foreclosure and Education Act, the SAFE Act, most of which was incorporated in the housing bill we passed in April. I believe those things went at this problem in the right way. We understand there is a problem. What I am saying is I fear that taxing GSEs or taking money, expropriating money from GSEs and setting up this HOPE Now Program is a false hope because FHA can't manage it, and they are likely to have a tremendous impact, No. 1, potentially on the housing budget coming out of the taxpayers' pockets. We don't have enough money to pay for all the things we need to do for public and assisted housing.”