Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the PACE Assessment Protection Act of 2010. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by my colleagues, Senators Merkley, Gillibrand, and Begich. Property Assessed Clean Energy or PACE programs allow homeowners and building owners to finance an energy efficiency upgrade to their property through a tax assessment on that property. In this way, property owners are able to spread the cost of the upgrades over several years, lower their energy costs, contribute to a cleaner environment, and create jobs. In California, nearly half of the State's 58 counties, as well as individual cities, have developed PACE programs or plan to start one, and 23 states as well as the District of Columbia have enacted PACE legislation. The program has the strong support of the White House and the Department of Energy, and many States and cities dedicated Recovery Act funding for their PACE programs. Despite the promise of this program, the Federal Housing Finance Agency recently ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to take actions that limit the use of PACE programs in conjunction with their home mortgages, effectively killing the program. FHFA objected that PACE assessments carry a priority lien, ahead of the lenders, on participating properties.…”