Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, what is the pending business?
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Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask to call up the Isakson-Bennet amendment.
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Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I am delighted to rise in favor of the Isakson-Bennet amendment, the SAVE Act, and glad to acknowledge my hard work with Michael Bennet, who has been a great partner in this effort.
I particularly want to acknowledge the patience of Senators Cantwell and Murkowski in allowing this bill and amendment to come forward. They have exemplified the type of patience that is necessary to do legislative work and do it well.
Very simply, this bill allows the Federal Housing Administration, in the underwriting of a mortgage loan for a family applying for that loan, to consider in the value of the appraisal, the enhanced over- minimum standards that are put in for insulation and the enhanced over- minimum standard savings that come to the consumer from those energy standards being put in. So the borrower gets credit as if it is income from the savings that comes from putting in the insulation for the higher standards. The value of the property is enhanced in order for the borrower to be able to pay for the enhancements, and they are permanent. It is a win-win-win proposition.
Why are we doing this? It already worked in the United States. It worked in the 1980s when the savings and loan industry made most of the mortgage loans. In Georgia, we had a program called Good Sense Housing. If you put in enhanced energy savings, you were given credit toward qualification on your loan. When we put them in, we had better thermal windowpanes, better results, and less consumption.
This a good amendment that allows consumers to get what they want and allows Americans to enjoy more energy-efficient housing.
I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
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Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I thank Senator Bennet for his support, and I urge each Member of the Senate today to vote favorably for the SAVE Act and favorably for the end legislation.
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Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, I just want all Members of the Senate to consider this amendment favorably.
It is an amendment that allows for consideration, in the qualification of the underwriting of a loan for the purchase of a single-family dwelling, of those enhanced standards for energy efficiency to go in over and above the minimum standard. It is permissive, and it is FHA only.
I appreciate every Member's vote.
I yield back.
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Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, I don't know who wrote what my friend from Alabama is reading, but the truth and the fact is that this is a recommendation that allows the installation of more energy efficiency and the funding of that in terms of housing. Homebuilders have endorsed it. Most energy efficiency organizations have endorsed it. It is good practice. It is good procedure. It is not ruining underwriting in any way whatsoever. It is good for America. It is good for energy efficiency. It is good for the housing industry.
I would appreciate the vote of each and every Member.
I yield back.
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