George Voinovich: “along with my colleague from Michigan, Senator Stabenow, we have worked to craft an amendment to help struggling…”

“along with my colleague from Michigan, Senator Stabenow, we have worked to craft an amendment to help struggling companies and their employees during this time of economic downturn. The two of us have been joined by a bipartisan group of cosponsors, including Senators Hatch, Smith, Vitter, Levin, Cantwell, and Rockefeller. Without a job and financial security, it is extremely difficult to keep paying your mortgage and keep your home out of foreclosure. A job is the first step in ensuring that Americans can achieve the dream of home ownership. My hometown of Cleveland is the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis, and with Ohio ranked No. 1 in foreclosures nationwide, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, addressing this issue is of critical importance to me and all of my constituents in the great State of Ohio. The reason Ohio is experiencing a foreclosure crisis has nothing to do with speculators. It has to do with a bubble of rapidly rising prices. Ohio has a foreclosure crisis despite the fact that house prices never did increase there as they did in other parts of the country. Ohio families have been losing their homes because Ohio manufacturing workers have been losing their jobs. It is the same story next door in Michigan. Our amendment is one step in the plan to turn things around for workers in these and other manufacturing States so families have the income to stay in their homes.”