Barney Frank: “Mr. Chairman, this is a more limited amendment and it is in order because it has an offset. The offset comes from a…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is a more limited amendment and it is in order because it has an offset. The offset comes from a program which has been severely criticized by the General Accounting Office. It is a program called Operation Safe Home which is run inappropriately, many of us feel, including, I must say, the General Accounting Office, by the Inspector General of HUD. Inspectors General should be checking up on other people's programs, not running their own. So it takes $5 million. What this amendment says, and it builds on what I said before, we have one of the multifamily housing programs in the FHA and it is known as 221(d)(4). The FHA is planning to raise the premiums on the 221(d)(4) program telling us that it is now running at a deficit. Remember, other multifamily programs are running at a surplus. That is why my first amendment was ruled out of order, because I tried to recapture that surplus by lowering the fees. What this amendment simply says is that when the administration raises the fees on the 221(d)(4) program, they can only raise them to break even, they cannot make a profit.”