House Proceeding on Feb 26th, 2009 :: 1:02:35 to 1:06:35
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1:02:32 to 1:02:52( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: cramdown provisions, allowing that it may very well increases. and they've ms. brown: appreciate the time and i hope we can work to perfect this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from north carolina. speaker. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

1:02:35 to 1:06:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Zoe Lofgren

1:02:53 to 1:03:13( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from florida. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: the gentlelady reserves. i apologize. mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from california, a member of the judiciary committe

1:03:14 to 1:03:34( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: worked tirelessly in producing this particular document, along with chairman conyers and chairman frank and other members of tir respective committee, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for two minutes. ms. lofgren: every 13 seconds a

1:03:35 to 1:03:56( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: new house in america goes to foreclosure. what this has caused is a dramatic decline in the value of housing all over the united states. for example, in contracosta home home values have declined 53%. so those values, the collapsing

1:03:57 to 1:04:17( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: housing market, is something w need to interrupt. this bill is part of that effort, to interrupt the collapse of the housing market. by doing something we should have done long ago to restore fairness to the bankruptcy system. now, bankruptcy has been a part of the constitution since the very beginning of the united states. and what it allows is for

1:04:18 to 1:04:40( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: people who are insolvent, who cannot pay their bills, to go into bankruptcy court and reorganize. the unfortune thing is and the unfair thing is that people who are bankrupt, who are insolvent, who are in bankruptcy court can get reorganization for their yacht,

1:04:41 to 1:05:01( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: for their vacation homes, for their cars, for their credit carsdz, for their jet airplane -- cards, for their jet airplane but not for the mortgage on their resident. that's not fair, that's not re changes that. and in doing so, it restores some fairness to the chapter 13

1:05:02 to 1:05:23( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: process. the voluntary modification system has not worked so according to "businessweek" last week only 35% of the voluntary modifications have actually resulted in lower monthly payments . in fact in 47% of the cases they've resulted in increased mort so it's a small wonder that

1:05:24 to 1:05:45( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: most of those voluntary reorganizations end up with a redefault. i would ask for an additional minute, if i could. mr. hastings: i yield the gentlelady an additional one minute. ms. lofgren: i'd like to note that not anyoncan go into bankruptcy court. you haveo be insolvent. we made it very tough in 2005 to get in there.

1:05:46 to 1:06:07( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: but we do believe that banks and lenders will come to the table with the stick that homeowners could in fact go into the bankruptcy court for relief. it's important to note what this is not. this won't cost the taxpayers one dime. this is about lenders eating part of the cost for the collapse of the housing market. it's not a bailout from the

1:06:08 to 1:06:29( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: taxpayers. it makes lenders take some responsibility for what has happened. i think it's about time that the banks stood up to their own responsibility and participated in part of the solution which they have not done to date. this bill has been narrowed. it's only for retroactive loans. we've made many other

1:06:30 to 1:06:36( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: adjustments but it's sound policy, it's something we should do as soon as possible. it's going to help millions of