On the recordMarch 29, 2011
I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry). Mr. McHENRY. I thank my colleague for yielding, and responding to my colleague from North Carolina, Mr. Chairman, I would say that we agree: The HAMP program is a failure. I think there is bipartisan agreement on that. Even the SIGTARP, Mr. Barofsky, says, ``The Treasury Department is so content with the wretched, shameful status quo, they refuse to even acknowledge the program is a failure.'' We agree. It's a failure. Although it sounds like, at the end of the day, he is going to vote to defend a failed program. Secondly, I would remind my colleague that this program actually writes checks to those evil banks that he talks about, with those evil profits that he talks about, to the tune of about a billion dollars. So this program is actually cutting checks to banks. Third and finally, that TARP money is actually the taxpayer, the American people's money, not the banks' money, and we owe it to the American people to give them back that money.
