Government Relations Associate :: Michael Sebring
Tempers flared Thursday as the House Financial Services Committee came together to mark up H.R.830: The FHA Refinance Program Termination Act, and H.R.836: The Emergency Mortgage Relief Program Termination Act. Both bills survived mark-up by votes of 33-22, straight down party lines. Former Chairman and Ranking Member Barney Frank (D-MA) got into and mediated multiple heated discussions over the merits of the programs. The visibly disgruntled Democrats, though, admitted multiple times that there were inherent flaws in these programs. The FHA Refinance Program enrolls a comical 44 people, with a total of seven enrollees in the last three months of the program. The “Refi” program obligates $50 million (with a more than $8B fund to draw from) to potential losses for those 42 people. Comparatively, the private sector has refinanced millions of Americans since the housing crisis began, and not on the backs of taxpayers.
These two bills will be placed on the floor of the House next week as the Financial Services Committee marks up H.R.839: The HAMP Termination Act and H.R.861: The NSP Termination Act, programs with access to $36 billion in TARP funds (six times the savings that Senate Democrats have proposed($6B) for the Continuing Resolution funding the government for the rest of FY2011).
The mark-up process entails a full committee meeting where members propose and vote on amendments to a bill that the committee is considering. The process, as opposed to the floor, retains a tenuous hold on decorum and rules. The combination of the smaller, less formal setting and direct exchange between political adversaries allows for a less scripted dialogue and debate than one would see on the floor of the House of Representatives. ACU will be following many of these hearings and mark-ups to bring you our democracy in action.
[...] Financial Services Committee’s markup of HR 861 and HR 839, the quarrelsome relationship from last week’s markup of the FHA Refinance Program Termination Act and Emergency Mortgage Relief Program Termination Act [...]