On the recordMay 12, 2010
What this amendment does is restore within the housing market a focus on the core issue that took us into this crisis--something many people in this body do not want to discuss--and that is the fact that there were a lot of loans written to people who had no ability whatsoever to pay them back. So this amendment does some very simple things. No. 1, it requires a very modest 5-percent downpayment for new home mortgages. If someone borrows more than 80 percent loan to value, it requires a credit enhancement--something that has been part of the American psyche for a long time.
