John Ensign: “That is correct, this is a 30-year fixed. This is not an adjustable rate mortgage where there are catches and in a…”

“That is correct, this is a 30-year fixed. This is not an adjustable rate mortgage where there are catches and in a couple of years it is going to go up again and I am going to have to worry about that. This is a 30-year fixed mortgage that can be very significant to the average family's budget. We believe this is going to be one of the big fixes. You combine this with the other proposals, such as Senator Isakson's proposal, and the other things Senator McCain and Senator Martinez have come in with, with mitigation for those who are underwater--ours does some for houses that are underwater if they are backed by Fannie and Freddie right now. But all of the proposals together--I believe we can do exactly what we say needs to be done, and that is fix housing first. But our proposal also takes out all of the spending in the bill that does not create jobs. We still have tax incentives in there for families and small businesses to create jobs, but we take out all of the $200 billion in new entitlement spending, all of the other 34 new programs that are created. There are some worthy programs in there that most of us would support. At this time, we should not be spending money on new programs, especially without eliminating other programs. We believe this is fiscally responsible. It is going to help the economy. It is going to help the housing problem. I appreciate your leadership, Senator Alexander, for bringing this colloquy together so we can talk about the underlying problem.”