Sean Patrick Maloney: “when this bill left the Financial Services Committee on a 65 to 5 vote, I felt we were on the way to a great…”

“when this bill left the Financial Services Committee on a 65 to 5 vote, I felt we were on the way to a great accomplishment. I was truly impressed with the hard work that Chairman Oxley, Ranking Member Frank, Congressman Baker, and others had done to bring the GSEs into this century. It is no less than tragic that the majority leadership and the administration have deep sixed this bipartisan legislation. The bill creates the sort of regulator that the GSEs have long lacked and that they demonstrably need, without destroying their housing mission. I was particularly excited by the Affordable Housing Fund provided by this bill. The Fund is a critical and long-overdue step toward addressing the very real housing crisis that confronts low-income families. It would be the first concrete step the Congress has taken in support of housing in this administration. We know that without Federal assistance, housing for low-income families does not get built or made available. Yet each year this administration has cut its support for housing. In this bill, we found a bipartisan way to support housing using a new funding source. The GSEs were chartered by the Federal government for the purpose of providing housing to more Americans, and they enjoy a benefit as a result of their Federal charter. Thus, it is uniquely appropriate that they plow a percentage of their profits--up to 5 percent--back into the low-income end of the housing market.…”