WALLY HERGER: “an important provision of the HEART Act would help veterans in my home State achieve the American Dream of…”

“an important provision of the HEART Act would help veterans in my home State achieve the American Dream of homeownership. In our pursuit of this provision, I join with my California colleague, Susan Davis, to introduce a stand-alone legislation on this issue, and I thank her for her leadership. Currently, several States are allowed to issue what are called Qualified Veteran Mortgage Bonds, which are tax-exempt bonds. In California, the CalVet Home Loan Program uses the proceeds from these bonds to help pay for low-cost mortgages for our Nation's heroes returning from war. For our State and Texas, however, until this provision today, only veterans who ended their military service before 1977 were allowed to receive these low-cost home loans using proceeds from qualified veterans mortgage bonds. Now all veterans, regardless of when they serve, will be eligible under the QVMB-financed program. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his administration deserve credit for their unwavering support of this change. This provision has been several years in coming. I am very pleased to say that it will help many recent California servicemen and women purchase their own home, regardless of when they served.”