Pete Sessions: “my amendment will provide useful information to middle-class home buyers about the real cost of the $2.5 billion stealth…”

“my amendment will provide useful information to middle-class home buyers about the real cost of the $2.5 billion stealth tax included in this legislation, and how it will affect these consumers' wallets. The amendment requires that the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency will determine how much the new tax created by this housing fund will increase total costs for home buyers whose mortgages are purchased by housing GSEs. This information would then be disclosed to the home buyer at or before closing for these mortgages to qualify for future GSE purchase. To ensure that it does not create a costly regulatory burden for mortgage originators, the amendment also provides that additional costs created by this new disclosure requirement would be paid for by the Housing Fund. I believe that if we are going to pass a new stealth $2.5 billion tax on the middle class to pay for affordable housing, then Congress should, at the very least, be up front about the true cost of this fund with those who are being asked to foot the bill. My amendment simply provides for transparencies for consumers about the true cost of this new government mandate. I would encourage all my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to support it. Mr. Chairman, a consistent fact about the free market is that new taxes to build big government programs are always passed on to the consumer. The Housing Fund created by this legislation raids the portfolios of the GSEs for funding.”