Posted by: Office Staff (September 08, 2008, 03:05 PM)
Hank Johnson, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, lead the designation event for the Specialist Jamaal RaShard Addison Post Office (Lithonia Post Office) on August 2, 2008.
The Congressman introduced and passed the bill renaming the Post Office to honor all Georgians killed in Iraq but named it for Specialist Addison because he was the first Georgian slain.
Specialist Addison died on March 23, 2003 when his convoy was ambushed. A former honor student at Lakeside High School in Tucker, he served with the 507th Army Ordnance Maintenance Company in Fort Bliss, Texas.
Posted in Defense, Foreign Affairs, Iraq, My Legislation, Photos, The District |
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Posted by: Hank Johnson (May 13, 2008, 12:40 PM)
FRIENDS: Last week, my colleagues in the House of Representatives and I passed the most comprehensive response yet to the ongoing mortgage crisis. The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act (H.R. 3221) responds directly to the crisis currently faced by middle-class Americans and provides financial authorities and the federal government the tools to prevent such a meltdown in the future.
U.S. families are expected to lose more than $2.6 trillion in housing wealth between 2007 and 2009. As home prices continue to fall, homeowners' debt on their houses has exceeded the equity in their homes for the first time since 1945. I have heard from hundreds of constituents – many of whom are credit-worthy but cannot refinance – who are agonizing over this housing crisis. It is estimated that over 7,000 homeowners are losing their homes daily and an additional 40 million neighboring homeowners could see their property values decline as wealth is destroyed throughout entire communities.
H.R. 3221 combines a number of bipartisan proposals, including measures to modernize the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and reform “government-sponsored enterprises” such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These reforms will provide crucial liquidity to our mortgage markets today and strengthen future regulation and oversight.
The housing package will help families facing foreclosure keep their homes, help other families avoid foreclosures in the future, and facilitate the recovery of communities damaged by the housing crisis. Generally, provisions include:
- establishment of an FHA program to refinance loans at risk of going into foreclosure;
- assistance for states to purchase, sell, and rent foreclosed homes to stop neighborhood values from plummeting;
- tax credits for first-time homebuyers;
- an expanded foreclosure grace period for veterans and personnel returning from active duty;
- and more reverse mortgage opportunities for seniors.
These measures will not fully solve any of our problems. Only time, during which home values can settle to their natural level, will allow us to move on. But this aggressive action will reduce the pain felt by ordinary Americans who have been unfairly harmed by a crisis rooted in the irresponsibility of a few borrowers and the greed of a few lenders.
If the most powerful banks in the world – some of whom were complicit in the trade of reckless and fraudulent mortgages – are to receive federal assistance, as they have, so should ordinary American homeowners who are just trying to make ends meet during a time of declining home values, rampant foreclosures, and rising prices at the store and the gas pump.
Posted in Economy, Housing, My Legislation |
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Posted by: Hank Johnson (March 15, 2007, 01:04 PM)
This has been a troubling week.
We have all watched with concern the slow drip of revelations regarding the fishy dismissal of U.S. Attorneys in seven states.
Like many of you, I suspect that dirty politics clouded the judgment of senior White House and Department of Justice officials in this affair. It appears that the Attorneys were fired for refusing to indict Democratic candidates during last year's election.
The most revealing quote uncovered this week, as reported in Tuesday's Washington Post (LINK):
"[I]f we don't ever exercise it then what's the point of having it?"
--that from former Alberto Gonzales Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson.
He was referring to the presidential power, newly granted by The PATRIOT Act, to appoint interim U.S. Attorneys following the removal of incumbents. Previously, interim U.S. Attorneys were appointed by the judiciary in order to deter exactly this sort of scandalous political maneuver.
Sampson's quote illustrates just how destructive the massive expansion of presidential power over the last half-decade has been. The president and his handlers have proven that they are prone to abuse all of the excessive prerogatives they have squeezed out of Republican Congresses since 2001.
It's time for this new Congress to aggressively oversee and investigate potential abuses of presidential power.
As such, I am eager to get to the bottom of the U.S. Attorneys affair. Today I introduced a resolution drawing attention to the scandal and commending the fired Attorneys for their poise in the face of improper political pressure and their ultimate dismissals.
Stay tuned to this blog for further updates.
Posted in Bush Administration, My Legislation, U.S. Attorneys Scandal |
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