Legislation Mirrors Cummings’s Military Family Home Protection Act

Washington, DC (Sept. 12, 2012) – Today, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC) passed measures similar to legislation introduced by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, that significantly expands foreclosure protections for servicemembers, their families, and disabled veterans.

The Committee incorporated Senator John Rockefeller’s bill, S. 3323, into a broader legislative package on home foreclosure protection and employment rights for our nation’s veterans and military servicemembers.  Rockefeller’s bill is the Senate companion to Cummings’s legislation, H.R. 5747, the Military Family Home Protection Act, which would expand foreclosure protections to servicemembers serving in support of contingency operations, surviving spouses of servicemembers whose deaths are service-related, and veterans who are 100% disabled at the time of discharge due to service-connected injuries.

“I applaud the committee for taking action to provide our servicemembers and their families with the protections they deserve against foreclosure abuses,” said Cummings. “I call on the Senate and the House to immediately pass this critical piece of legislation. Our men and women in uniform should not have to fight to keep their homes while they protect our freedom on the battlefield.”

In May 2012, the House passed by a vote of 394 to 27 an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) introduced Cummings, Rep. Bob Filner, Ranking Member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, and Rep. Adam Smith, Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee. The amendment was previously introduced as Cummings’s legislation, the Military Family Home Protection Act.  The legislation also successfully passed the House Veterans Affairs Committee in July 2012.