On the recordMarch 11, 2011
Well, this was started under a Republican Governor, Governor Thornburgh. I introduced this as a young State legislator with no gray hair, and it has worked very well in the State of Pennsylvania. I offered it here in this Chamber. In 2007, we hit a 50-year high in mortgage foreclosures. It makes no sense to move someone out of their home, ruin their credit for a decade and have their family be homeless when in the Pennsylvania instance, for less than $7,000 on average, you can help them over a period of difficulty. So here is the Republican majority. They say, look, we can't find it within us as a Nation, even though we help people all across the globe, to actually pause for a minute for a paltry sum and help a citizen in our own country meet a burden, and do it in a way that would actually be more cost effective for our taxpayers. We should reject this. We should reject the notion that somehow we are so much in debt that we can't afford to help our own citizens. What we should know is we are the wealthiest country in the world.
