Bill Nelson: “What this amendment says is, if home ownership and keeping people in their homes is an important value in America, and…”

“What this amendment says is, if home ownership and keeping people in their homes is an important value in America, and they are about to have their home taken away because of this foreclosure crisis, then it seems to me we would want to amend the law to allow them to take money out of their retirement fund in order to forestall the foreclosure and stay in their homes. That is what this amendment does. It allows someone to withdraw up to $25,000 from their retirement fund without paying the 10-percent penalty. That has to be used for the purpose of foreclosure prevention purposes; that is like paying on the principal or interest payments; that is like a refinancing or a mortgage modification. To make sure people do not abuse this, we are limiting it to a 2-year period and we are additionally going to say, the money you bring out to help you so you do not go into foreclosure, if you put that money back into your retirement fund within 3 years, you are not going to have to pay the income tax on it.”