Kent Conrad: “I will say very simply, colleagues, this amendment is designed to help address the housing crisis by reallocating money…”

“I will say very simply, colleagues, this amendment is designed to help address the housing crisis by reallocating money from lesser priority areas to the FDIC mortgage foreclosure mitigation plan. Sheila Bair, the head of the FDIC, has written us and said to us, if this amendment is passed, it will prevent 1.5 million American homes from being foreclosed on. It is paid for. This is critically important to economic recovery. Virtually every economist has told us if this is not dealt with, the housing crisis, and dealt with effectively, we cannot expect economic recovery.”