biggert: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on h.r. 839 and to insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. pursuant to house resolution 170 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 839. the chair appoints the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, to preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 839 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: union calendar number 15, h.r. 839, a bill to amend the emergency economic stabilization act of 2008 to terminate the authority of the secretary of the treasury to provide new assistance under the home affordable modification program, while preserving assistance to homeowners who were already extended an offer to participate in the program

biggert: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that in the engrossment of h.r. 830 the clerk be authorized to correct section numbers, punctuation and cross references and to make such other technical and conforming changes as may be necessary to accurately reflect the actions of the house. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the speaker pro tempore: the chair is prepared to entertain motions for one-minute speeches. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011,, the gentleman from missouri, mr. akin, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. akin: thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members, please take their conversations off the floor. the gentleman is recognized. mr. akin: thank you, mr. speaker. we're going to talk a little while here this afternoon about a subject that is on i think everybody's minds, regardless of their political affiliations. and the more we look a

biggert: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on h.r. 861 and to insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. pursuant to house resolution 170 and rule 18, the chair declares the house now in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 861. the chair appoints the gentleman from new hampshire, mr. bass, to preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 861, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to rescind a third-round ever funding for the neighborhood stabilization program and to terminate the program. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. the gentlewoman from illinois, mrs. biggert, and the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. frank, each will control 30 minute

thank you, chairwoman biggert. i ask consent that my full statement be included in the record. >> without objection. >> i represent mississippi's fourth congressional district, which is the only district representing the mississippi gulf coast. fema has served as a partner to our state and we applaud administrator fugate's continued leadership to the agency. the national flood insurance program is critically important to south mississippi and any area exposed to flood risk. as floods continue to be among the most costly natural disasters in the united states, i urge the committee to closely consider reforms offered by administrator fugate to the nfip and to pass a long-term reauthorization of nfip. madam chairwoman, with your -- with the absence of administrator fugate, i would like permission to submit my questions for the record for him. >> without objection. all members requests for questions will be put in the record. >> thank you. i would be remiss if i didn't not mention the high cost of wind insurance is a m

thank you, chairwoman biggert. i ask consent that my full statement be included in the record. >> without objection. >> i represent mississippi's fourth congressional district, which is the only district representing the mississippi gulf coast. fema has served as a partner to our state and we applaud administrator fugate's continued leadership to the agency. the national flood insurance program is critically important to south mississippi and any area exposed to flood risk. as floods continue to be among the most costly natural disasters in the united states, i urge the committee to closely consider reforms offered by administrator fugate to the nfip and to pass a long-term reauthorization of nfip. madam chairwoman, with your -- with the absence of administrator fugate, i would like permission to submit my questions for the record for him. >> without objection. all members requests for questions will be put in the record. >> thank you. i would be remiss if i didn't not mention the high cost of wind insurance is a m

thank you again, chairwoman biggert to be here today, and i yield back. >> thank you. mr. duffy, do you have questions? well, i'd like to thank so much the witnesses. this has been a very informative and very helpful to us, and thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> and i might wait until later, but those members who have written questions, that will be open for 30 days for submitting questions to you and answers in a written response. we will now move to the next panel. [inaudible conversations] >> if we can do this very quickly, i might mention that the floor is estimating that we will have votes between 11:45 and 12:15, so we want to move as expeditiously as possible. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> okay. if the panel can take their seats, and if they know where they are sitting. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> all right, i'd like to introdeuce the second panel. we have vice president and taxpayers for common sense in washington, d.c.. then we have teri sullivan, the commit

biggert: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in support of house resolution 170, the rule for consideration of h.r. 861. the neighborhood stabilization program n.s.p., termination act and the home afforable act, hamp, termination act. it would rescind n.s.p. and rescind $1 billion that would be sfent to ntinue this troubled program. in total, congress has spent $7 billion for n.s. and instead of stabilizing neighborhoods or helping people whose mortgages are under water, the program allows lenders and servicers to offload their bad investments onto taxpayers and delay market recovery. even more disturbing is that critics warn that n.s.p. creates incentives for banks and other lenders to foreclose on troubled borrowers, worsening the crisis and kicking families olt of their homes. this program is not about helping homeowners. they have already lost their house to foreclosure. they are not involved in this. this is for help for lenders and bankers to take the money and build more homes through the counties, through the stat

. >> chairman biggert, ranking member gutierrez, members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. my name is barry rutenberg, and i'm a home builders from gainsville, florida and first vice chairman of the board of directors of the national association of home builders. nahb commends the subcommittee for addressing reform the nfip program. builders strongly support a five-year program reauthorization as a best way to provide a steady foundation on which to build program revisions and ensure that nfip is efficient and effective. for several years nfip short-term extensions created a high level of uncertainty in the program causing severe problems in already troubled housing markets. during the periods, there were delays or canceled closings due to the inability to obtain flood insurance for mortgages. often new home construction was shut down or postponed due to the lack of flood insurance approval. adding unneeded delays and job losses. we believe this reauthorization will ensure the nation's real estate markets operate smoothly and without delay. the availabilit

biggert: thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in support of this rule, house resolution 151, and house resolution 150, the rule for h.r. 830. last week the committee on financial services considered an and approved two bills. h.r. 836, the emergency mortgage relief program termination act, and h.r. 830, the f.h.a. refinance pgram termination act. h.r. 836 would terminate the emergency mortgage relief program and rescind any unobligated balances remaining under the program. the emergency mortgage relief program created by the dodd-frank act establishes a $1 billion fund to provide loans or credited answers to borrowsers who can can't pay their mortgages because of unemployment or reduction in income. to date no funds have been provided to meowners under this program and serious questions remained about its cost, effectiveness and benefits. the c.b.o. estimates the program will have a 98% subsidy rate meaning that for every dollar loaned thunderstorm program, 98 cents -- under this program, 98 cents is not expected

biggert: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in support of this rule, house resolution 151, and house resolution 150, the rule for h.r. 830. last week the committee on financial services considered an and approved two bills. h.r. 836, the emergency mortgage relief program termination act, and h.r. 830, the f.h.a. refinance program termination act. h.r. 836 would terminate the emergency mortgage relief program and rescind any unobligated balances remaining under the program. the emergency mortgage relief program created by the dodd-frank act establishes a $1 billion fund to provide loans or credited answers to borrowsers who can can't pay their mortgages because of unemployment or reduction in income. to date no funds have been provided to homeowners under this program and serious questions remained about its cost, effectiveness and benefits. the c.b.o. estimates the program will have a 98% subsidy rate meaning that for every dollar loaned thunderstorm program, 98 cents -- under this program, 98 cents is not expec

biggert: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in support of this rule, house resolution 151, and house resolution 150, the rule for h.r. 830. last week the committee on financial services considered an and approved two bills. h.r. 836, the emergency mortgage relief program termination act, and h.r. 830, the f.h.a. refinance program termination act. h.r. 836 would terminate the emergency mortgage relief program and rescind any unobligated balances remaining under the program. the emergency mortgage relief program created by the dodd-frank act establishes a $1 billion fund to provide loans or credited answers to borrowsers who can can't pay their mortgages because of unemployment or reduction in income. to date no funds have been provided to homeowners under this program and serious questions remained about its cost, effectiveness and benefits. the c.b.o. estimates the program will have a 98% subsidy rate meaning that for every dollar loaned thunderstorm program, 98 cents -- under this program, 98 cents is not expec

biggert: i thank the gentleman for yielding. and, mr. chairman, president ronald reagan famously said with tong and cheek, no doubt, that the closest thing to eternal life on this earth is a federal government program. and i rise today in support of h.r. 830, legislation authored by my friend from illinois, mr. dold. at the risk of disproving the late president's ax yum, let me say that h.r. 830 will demonstrate that congress does have the good sense, the fortitude and the wherewithal to bring an end to a federal program, especially one that's not working. the program in question is the f.h.a. refinancing program which was authorized under the broadest provisions in the tarp legislation back in 2008. in 2010 the program was conceived in haste, enacted with no vote in congress and was designed to augment another failed program, the making home affordable program, which has done more harm than good. under the f.h.a. refinancing program, the f.h.a. is directed to use tarp funds to refinance mortgages that are current but underwater. its rec

biggert: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in support of house resolution 170, the rule for consideration of h.r. 861. the neighborhood stabilization program n.s.p., termination act and the home affordable act, hamp, termination act. it would rescind n.s.p. and rescind $1 billion that would be sfent to continue this troubled program. in total, congress has spent $7 billion for n.s.p. and instead of stabilizing neighborhoods or helping people whose mortgages are under water, the program allows lenders and servicers to offload their bad investments onto taxpayers and delay market recovery. even more disturbing is that critics warn that n.s.p. creates incentives for banks and other lenders to foreclose on troubled borrowers, worsening the crisis and kicking families olt of their homes. this program is not about helping homeowners. they have already lost their house to foreclosure. they are not involved in this. this is for help for lenders and bankers to take the money and build more homes through the counties, through the

. >> good morning, chair woman, biggert. i want to thank our witnesses for taking time to testify. as you may recall, we were successful in passing the flood insurance reform priorities act of 2010 last summer, which was introduced by congresswoman waters. the bill received received broad bipartisan support, here we are once again. since the program is slated to expire at the end of september, i hope we can work together to pass this necessary legislation and not allow the program to lapse as it's done in the past. finally, as we move forward, we need to make sure reauthorization has the stability to enter our housing market. i look forward to all the testimony. i would like to introduce two statements for the record. the first is from the american insurance association, write your own flood insurance coalition, aia expresses the need for meaningful and long term extension and. the second is the national wildlife coalition, it raises environmental concerns to keep in mind as we move forward with nfip reform this year. thank you, mrs. chair woman. i would like to see who else on our

biggert: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 839, the hamp termination act and commend my colleague from north carolina, mr. mchenry, for introducing this bill. h.r. 839, the hamp termination act, would put an end to the poster child for failed federal foreclosure programs. announced by the administration in february, 2009, and launched in march, 2009, the program has nguished for two years, hurt hundreds of thousands of homeowners and must come to an end. according to the congressional budget office, this bill would save $1.4 bllion over 10 years. to date, the hamp program has already consumed $840 million of the more than $30 billion of tarp funds that were set aside for the program. for this extraordinary investment, the administration predicted that three million to four million homeowners would receive help. sadly, the program has been a failure. in fact, hamp has hurt more homeowners than it has helped. the program has completed about 540 mortgage modifications, another 740,000 unlucky ho