On the recordApril 14, 2015
I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his leadership on this issue. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 650, a bipartisan piece of legislation that would make commonsense changes to Dodd-Frank and restore clarity to a market that has been hit hard by unnecessary regulations. Texas builds or manufactures over 25 percent of the Nation's new manufactured homes--almost 12,000 last year. To put that in perspective, Texas is home to 19 manufacturing facilities with an average of 185 skilled workers per factory. At a time when our Nation is still recovering from the financial crisis of 2008, now is the time to free small businesses from harmful regulations that only hurt hard- working Americans. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have access to affordable financing for manufactured homes, especially in central Texas, where the average home price for a manufactured home is $60,000. The one-size-fits-all regulatory approach under the CFPB is clearly not working. Instead of protecting potential consumers, the CFPB has, once again, gotten it wrong. Treating lending products for manufactured housing as high cost and predatory clearly will not protect consumers, but it will reduce access to small balance loans. With increased lender liabilities, obtaining a high-cost mortgage has become nearly impossible. Having critical resources for low- to moderate-income families is vital in many parts of rural America.…
