Political Quotes

“I yield myself the balance of my time. The gentleman might be interested to know that there was a HOPE VI bill that was an amendment to that, to H.R. 3524, made by Representative Sessions. The amendment sought to maintain HUD's authority to issue demolition only grants, and that failed by a recorded vote of 186-221. Voting ``no'' on that was the gentleman, Mr. Frank and Ms. Waters, Mr. Ellison, Ms. Velazquez. I have been listening to all of this, and I think that everybody knows, we all want to get the housing market back on track. We all want to be able to help those that are in trouble. But many of my colleagues on the other side have said that if you end these programs there will be nothing, and that's just not true. Of the 4.1 million mortgage modifications that were completed, 3.5 million were done by the private sector with no government program and not a dime from the taxpayers. So there is a market out there. There is also the Home Affordable Refinance Program, HARP, for homeowners. And don't forget the Hardest Hit Fund, which President Obama established. And in 2008, $300 million in guarantees were committed for homeowners, a voluntary FHA program. $475 million had been appropriated to Neighbor Works for foreclosure counseling. And finally, there are countless local, State and private sector initiatives. So let us not forget that this is being taken care of.…”