Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Biggert Continues Her Assault On The Construction Industry

Continuing her direct attack against any potential for recovery of new housing construction in America any time soon, 13th District Republican Representative Judy Biggert succeeded this morning in securing House passage of the fourth in a series of separate bills she cosponsored, terminating programs which provide relief to homeowners plagued by the economic crisis. Biggert is a cosponsor of HR 830, the FHA Refinance Program Termination Act, and HR 836, the Emergency Mortgage Relief Termination Act, passed by the House and sent to the Senate Banking Committee March 14, as well as HR 861, the Neighborhood Stabilization Program Termination Act, passed in the House March 17 and sent to the Senate Banking Committee. This morning the House also passed HR 839, the Home Affordable Modification Program Termination Act, cosponsored by Biggert, which will go to the same Senate Banking Committee.

Under Biggert’s leadership, the House has now succeeded in pushing through bills to completely gut all the programs in the Obama Administration stimulus legislation which gave some hope of stabilizing the tottering housing market, and stemming the bleeding in the housing start statistics so critical to recovery of jobs and activity in the construction industry. The fate of these critical programs is now in the hands of the 10 Republican, 12 Democrat Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. The Democratic members are Chairman Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Charles Schumer of New York, Robert Mendez of New Jersey, Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jon Tester of Montana, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Mark Warner of Virginia, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Kay Hagan of North Carolina. Republicans serving on the committee include Ranking Member Richard Shelby of Alabama, and Senators Mark Crapo of Idaho, Bob Corker of Tennessee, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, David Vitter of Louisiana, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Patrick Tooney of Pennsylvania, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Jerry Moran of Kansas, and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

While pundits predict all four bills will die in the Senate, or be vetoed by President Obama in the unlikely event they do pass, it is incumbent on every voter whose economic progress depends in any way on recovery of the construction segment of our economy to get in touch with the members of the Senate Banking Committee and let them know how important it is to construction companies and construction workers to see that this destructive legislation never reaches the Senate floor.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

U. S. House Deals Construction A One/Two Punch

Last week the U. S. House of Representatives passed, and sent across the capitol to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, two unheralded pieces of legislation which represent direct attacks on the potential for economic recovery in the construction industry and the U. S. housing market: HR 830, passed March 14, would terminate the FHA Refinance Program; and HR 861, passed March 17, would terminate the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The two programs on the Republican Party death list were part of the stimulus package of legislation aimed at assisting homeowners, whose house values fell below the principal balances on their home mortgages, refinance their loans, and assisting neighborhoods with large numbers of foreclosed homes avoid the urban blight associated with a situation where many homes in the same area stand vacant and unmaintained.

The fate of these two programs is now in the hands of the 10 Republican, 12 Democrat Senate Committee. The Democratic members are Chairman Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Charles Schumer of New York, Robert Mendez of New Jersey, Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jon Tester of Montana, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Mark Warner of Virginia, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Kay Hagan of North Carolina. Republicans serving on the committee include Ranking Member Richard Shelby of Alabama, and Senators Mark Crapo of Idaho, Bob Corker of Tennessee, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, David Vitter of Louisiana, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Patrick Tooney of Pennsylvania, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Jerry Moran of Kansas, and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

Termination of these two federal programs will be like a knee to the groin of an already prostrate residential construction industry in the United States. Without the economic support from the federal dollars these two significant programs provide, housing starts, already on a steep slalom down the mountain, will just turn their tips into the fall line. Seems like the Republican Senators and Congressmen favoring these bills, who already own their homes, want to destroy the American Dream for anyone in the middle class who still rents housing. If your business depends on housing construction for any part of its revenue, you should write your elected representatives on the Senate Banking Committee and point out the folly passage of either one of these proposed laws would represent.