Max Baucus: “just a couple comments about the points made by the Senator from New Hampshire. No. 1, it is not a $20 billion bill.…”

“just a couple comments about the points made by the Senator from New Hampshire. No. 1, it is not a $20 billion bill. That is not accurate at all. It is, first of all, about $6 billion. It is over 10 years. So it is much less than what the Senator makes it sound like it is. Second, we all know the housing problems that occurred in this country--the subprime mortgage problems, as well as other mortgages in distress and home buyers in distress. The figure I saw was that about 10 percent of American homes are underwater, meaning the value of the homes for 10 percent of Americans is much less than the mortgage on their homes. This is a very complicated problem. It requires a complicated solution. Senator Dodd is to be commended for the Banking Committee's provisions in this housing bill. We in the Finance Committee wrote the tax provisions in this bill, and they are designed to help lots of different areas, lots of different people, in lots of different ways. One is the mortgage revenue bond provisions, which helps States finance new mortgages for people, homeowners. Another is the tax credit for distressed homes. That helps people. That helps home buyers. That is in this legislation. Another is to help give a little break to people who do not itemize their income tax returns but have property taxes so they can get a break on their property taxes.”