On the recordMay 12, 2010
I oppose his amendment for two reasons. First of all, it creates a very bright line of mandating 5 percent. Every nonprofit, all FHA mortgages would be subject to that rule, which would exclude an awful lot. The Merkley-Klobuchar amendment we just adopted establishes underwriting standards. Further, what the Corker amendment does is it strips out the skin in the game. One of the things we learned is that brokers and mortgage dealers had no skin in the game. They were selling off these items and they didn't care what was in it because they were being paid. Under an amendment we will adopt after the Corker amendment is considered--the Isakson-Landrieu amendment--we will set a standard allowing for the option of that skin in the game, which I think strengthens the bill even further, and I appreciate Senator Isakson and Senator Landrieu offering that idea to this bill that will come right after this. For those reasons, I urge my colleagues, respectfully, to reject the Corker amendment.
