EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 2008 (House of Representatives - September 29, 2008)

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts.

Madam Speaker, I have mostly appreciated the kind words directed at me. I say ``mostly'' because it has been my experience here that there is often an inverse ratio between the nice things people say about you and their inclination to vote for your bill. I hope we can overcome that in this situation.

But I want to talk now--and we've worked on this in a compromise way, and I am proud to have worked with the whip and my ranking member counterpart and others across the ideological spectrum. And meeting a national crisis does not give any of us the luxury of doing everything we want.

I hope we will come back here with more votes. And if we have more votes, the next time we negotiate I'll be tougher, but you have got to accept reality.

I wish this was a bill that reflected more of my priorities. I wish I could eat more and not gain weight, but I have learned that acting imprudently on my wishes that cannot be realized is not helpful. But I do want to address those who share with me a commitment to dealing with people who are low on the economic spectrum.

Madam Speaker, I do my work, and I work on a lot of the general issues. But if there weren't poor people in this world and if we didn't have discrimination, I wouldn't be here. That's why I'm here.

What I have tried to do every time we've had a major bill, I'll be honest, is to use the leverage I get as chairman because there are things that everybody needs to put in for the poor people, to put in something for the people who don't otherwise get a fair shake. And sometimes there's a lot of other things in there. But I will tell my colleagues this, particularly my fellow liberals, if we aren't prepared to accept some of the things we don't like, we will not have the power to deliver for the people we care about. We do not unilaterally have the power to impose policies we would like, and therefore, a compromise is required.

What do we have in this bill? I've got a letter I'm putting in the Record from every liberal advocacy group--not ACORN, I want to assure my colleagues over there before they have a conniption--but every other group, the Low-Income Housing Coalition, the Legal Aid Society, National Coalition for the Homeless. And it says: ``We are writing to thank you for the inclusion of measures to protect renters.''

People all over this country who rented, who didn't make an imprudent decision to buy a house, found themselves being evicted because somebody didn't pay the mortgage. We try to protect them against this. We try to keep subsidies. I tell you this, the lower-income people, the poor people, they will get nothing if we're not prepared to compromise some.

Secondly, we have in here--and I understood what the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) was saying--very good language on foreclosure. Is it everything I wanted? No. But I'll tell you this, if this bill passes, we will have a Federal Government empowered to do, for the first time, significant reductions in foreclosures. Now, I don't know who's going to win in November, but I will tell you this, this will put in the hands of whoever the President is the power to do a great deal of good. Please don't throw it out because you're unhappy with some other provisions.

September 29, 2008.
Hon. Barney Frank,
Chair, Committee on Financial Services, House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.

DEAR CHAIRMAN FRANK, we are writing to thank you for the inclusion of measures to protect renters in this Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The provisions that will allow renters with leases to stay in place and that provide for the continuance of existing protections for tenants, including rental subsidies, are very important to ensure that this financial crisis does not disrupt the lives of some of our most vulnerable citizens.

Thank you for your leadership on this issue.

Yours truly,

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
City of New York
Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio
Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation
Community Service Society of New York
Jesuit Conference USA
Housing Preservation Project
Legal Aid Society
National Coalition for the Homeless
National Housing Conference
National Housing Law Project
National Housing Trust
National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
National Low Income Housing Coalition
National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness
Stewards for Affordable Housing for the Future
The Community Builders--DC
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board