Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “I never thought a debate on GSE reform would be so emotional, and it has been a long day and a very productive day and a…”

“I never thought a debate on GSE reform would be so emotional, and it has been a long day and a very productive day and a good debate. Let me, first of all, say to my friend from Massachusetts, who worked very well with us in committee on this important legislation, let us not lose sight of the fact that this is the first major GSE reform bill to ever come before any Congress. It was well written and well received, and it does a lot to create a world-class regulator for the GSEs. Secondly, it creates for the first time a housing fund that will funnel millions and millions of dollars into affordable housing through the GSEs, and I think we do not want to lose sight of that. Thirdly, this legislation does not ban faith-based groups from providing housing. All it says is that we want groups that have had a record of building houses, a record of building houses in the various States, to be able to do that. We want to make certain that that money is used for housing, not for political activity, not for lobbying or everything else. Fourthly, let me add, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) in his motion talks about a nonpartisan basis. {time} 1700 There is no definition in the campaign laws that I can find that defines what is essentially nonpartisan, and I think we need to keep that in mind.…”