News Room
Speeches
July 23, 2008
Rule for H. Res. 1363: Providing for Consideration of The Last-Minute, Lockdown GSE Bailout Bill
I rise in strong opposition to this rule and to the underlying legislation, which is proof of not only the Democrat majority’s careless disregard for the American taxpayer, but also their complete disregard for the energy crisis facing American families.
This legislation – submitted late last night after the House had already finished its business for the day – is proof that when the Democrats want to bring legislation to the floor in a hurry, they are completely capable. It’s just too bad, M Speaker, that despite the pleas of working families and small businesses across the country, Democrats have failed on every occasion to treat the serious issue of high energy costs with the same level of urgency that they are bringing to the debate over this massive bailout of two private companies.
This is not to say that there are no good parts to this hastily-negotiated legislation. While I believe that Mr. Terry, myself and a number of other Republicans had a better and more effective proposal, the inclusion of the first-time home buyer credit is wise and has the potential to help reinvigorate our slumping housing and homebuilding markets.
Additionally, I support the establishment of a more robust and competent regulator of the GSEs, which will return confidence to the marketplace and ensure that these entities operate in a safe and sound manner, maintain adequate capital and internal controls, and “contribute to the liquid, efficient, competitive and resilient national housing finance markets that minimize the cost of housing finance.”
If this were all that the bill did, I am confident that the bill would pass this House unanimously. Unfortunately, there are a number of extraneous provisions – cynically added by the Democrat majority to an “emergency” bill that they are bringing to the floor under a rushed and closed process – that either weaken the financial position of the GSEs that they claim to be helping, provide a taxpayer bailout of reckless financial behavior, or simply don’t make logical sense.
Most perplexing of all is the logical inconsistency underlying the entire bill. On one hand, this Congress is being asked declare an emergency and authorize the use of unlimited taxpayer funds to become a part owner of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while also raising the debt limit by $800 billion to lend these companies as much money as they may need.
On the other hand, this bill creates an affordable Housing Trust Fund that taxes the GSEs to support questionably-effective low-income housing “activities” and to cover the losses that the FHA will surely incur after the federal government accepts financial responsibility for the most toxic loans in the marketplace.
So, I ask my Democrat colleagues that drafted this legislation: which is it? Are Fannie and Freddie private companies teetering on the brink of financial disaster, thereby justifying this unprecedented taxpayer exposure and government intervention into the marketplace? Or, are they cash cows that can and should be forever milked to provide financial support to every low-income housing whim that this Congress can dream up … BECAUSE THE ANSWER SIMPLY CANNOT BE “BOTH.”
Because this lockdown rule provides the minority with only 60 minutes to debate this 694-page bill, I am going to use the little time that I have to let my Republican colleagues come to the floor and use this limited opportunity to discuss all of the shortcomings associated with this bailout of mortgage lenders, investors and speculators.
I will leave it to my Republican colleagues to talk about all of the problems associated with the creation of this permanent housing slush-fund, this $800 billion debt-ceiling increase, and this new, $4 billion liability that will allow local governments to expose themselves to the up-and-down risks of the real estate market. And most of all, I will leave it them to explain why the multi-billion dollar tax increase included in this bill to fund all of the bad ideas I’ve just described and more is a bad idea. I reserve the balance of my time.
Since taking control of the House, this Democrat Congress has totally neglected its responsibility to address the domestic supply issues that have created the skyrocketing gas, diesel and energy costs that American families are facing.
Today, they are proving that while they can move a bill – like this housing legislation – quickly when they choose to do so, that they do not believe that the energy crisis facing American families and businesses is important enough to treat with this same level of seriousness.
So, today, I urge my colleagues to vote with me to defeat the previous question so this House can finally consider real solutions to rising energy costs in addition to this Housing and GSE legislation. If the previous question is defeated, I will move to amend the rule to allow for the additional consideration of HR 6566 – the American Energy Act.
This bill would increase the supply of American-made energy, improve conservation and efficiency, and promote new and expanding energy technologies to help lower the price at the pump and reduce America’s increasingly costly and dangerous dependence on foreign sources of energy.
I encourage everyone that believes that a comprehensive solution to solving this energy crisis and achieving energy independence includes increasing the supply of American energy to defeat this rule and the previous question.
I ask unanimous consent to have the text of the amendment and extraneous material inserted into the Record prior to the vote on the previous question and I yield back the balance of my time.
