We have seen the financial landscape in our country reshaped over recent days. What began as a housing crisis has grown into the greatest market upheaval since the Great Depression. Titans of Wall Street have been rendered insolvent or even bankrupt. These are firms that survived the Great Depression, World Wars, the attacks of September 11th, but were no match for a mounting credit crisis allowed to escalate in the shadows of our financial system. In New York, tens of thousands of hard-working employees have lost their jobs and the livelihoods of tens of thousands more who depend on Wall Street's economy are threatened as well.

I have laid out proposals to halt the economic crisis in a speech on the floor of the Senate and in a letter to concerned New Yorkers. I called for a series of specific steps, including creating a new version of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) to remove bad mortgage debt from the market and restore confidence, curbing the most damaging and manipulative trading practices, providing immediate relief to homeowners facing foreclosure through modifying troubled mortgages, and reasserting competent federal oversight.  In light of the Administration’s proposal to assume the unmanageable debt  from the banks, I believe that a critical component of any plan must be the need to address and prevent the next foreclosure crisis.

I will be examining the administration's proposals to address this crisis very closely to ensure that we do not approve a policy that may stabilize the markets in the short term without addressing the root problems facing middle class families or the kinds of reckless gambling that was permitted for far too long by the administration.

The escalating housing crisis has devastated communities, shaking our economy, and putting the financial security of millions of families at risk. Recent data shows that 1.3 million households received foreclosure notices last year. Mounting foreclosures are contributing to the weakness in house prices, and therefore even families who are not at risk of losing their homes are affected. The decline in home prices has already cost families an estimated $1.6 trillion.

In response to this crisis, I introduced the Mortgage Refinancing Initiative of 2008, which would provide an opportunity for at-risk households to refinance unworkable mortgages. Since the crisis began, I have urged regulators and the mortgage industry to take the necessary steps to end the foreclosure crisis and ensure that it never recurs. Last year I reintroduced the 21st Century Housing Act, which strengthens the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), makes FHA loans available to more Americans, and expands access to a responsible and stable alternative to the subprime market. I have also introduced the Home Ownership Preservation Act which eliminates abusive lending practices, cracks down on unscrupulous brokers, expands the foreclosure prevention initiatives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and provides financial assistance to states to expand their foreclosure prevention programs. I called on the mortgage industry and Wall Street to observe a 90-day moratorium on subprime foreclosures, a 5-year freeze in rates on subprime adjustable rate mortgages, and proposed $30 billion in assistance to states and communities to fight foreclosures and offset the costs associated with mounting vacancies.

Listed below are some of my statements on this issue.