Political Quotes

“My amendment strikes the bill in its entirety and inserts language that is identical to last year's bipartisan FHA modernization bill, H.R. 5121. Last year the bill had 54 Republicans, 51 Democrats, and one Independent cosponsor. Last year the bill was the bipartisan compromise that was agreed to by Chairman Waters and Chairman Frank and then chairman Mike Oxley. Last year's bill passed the House by a vote of 415-7 on July 25, 2006. There are differences in the bills. This amendment, last year's bipartisan bill, I would like to highlight a couple of important differences. The Frank-Waters bill authorizes the FHA to implement risk-based pricing, but leaves in place the current, I think, outdated premium caps. My concern is that these limits on the premium caps will prevent FHA from serving riskier borrowers who could be prudently served by charging a slightly higher premium. With the flexibility to charge slightly higher premiums, FHA would be able to serve borrowers with lower FICO scores who are currently being served only by the subprime market at very high interest rates. Just like last year's bipartisan House-passed bill, my amendment modernizes and updates premium caps, enabling FHA to reach down and serve riskier borrowers, but in a prudent manner. I think this is where growth comes in, because there will be more loans that FHA will be able to make.”