Providing for Consideration of H.R. 650, Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act of 2015, Providing for Consideration of H.R. 685, Mortgage Choice Act of 2015, and Providing for Adoption of S. CON. Res. 11, Concurrent Resolution on the Budget, Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of a rule and the underlying bills that make it easier for hard-working families to purchase a home.

I would like to be perfectly clear from the outset. These bills are about increasing access to affordable housing. They are about helping middle class men and women in our country gain a little bit better footing to help them along their American Dream, and that is why we are here today.

What we are trying to do is get the government out of the way so that more Americans can purchase the homes of their choice. These bills are about achieving the American Dream of owning your own home. That brings us closer to why we are here today. We are here to help families who want to own their own home and to live the American Dream.

The administration's Big Government regulations have made it harder for American families to own a home, so we are here to empower them, instead of rules and regulations by Washington bureaucrats.

The ball of red tape coming out of Washington grows daily, and day by day, it spreads beyond the housing market. It ties the hands of families who want to own their own home, as well as the hands of business that want to hire new employees and investors that want to fund the next new big idea to make America stronger and better and to build jobs.

Modest, reasonable regulation does have its place; overregulation does not. Overregulation stifles economic growth. It gets in the way and makes it harder for families to pull themselves not only out of poverty, but it keeps them from gaining the footing to get into the middle class. Ultimately, unreasonable regulation destroys a shot that people have at the American Dream.

The problem with overregulation is that it is everywhere. This administration enjoys and relishes the opportunity to inflict themselves on every part of the American economy because they believe Washington knows best. Well, we just can't live this way and have people have their say and whack at the American Dream, also.

Unfortunately, overregulation is like the weeds in the backyard; they have to be removed. One by one, that is how you gain accomplishment. That is what happened yesterday when the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, Chairman Jeb Hensarling from Dallas, Texas, brought some reasonable opportunities to the Rules Committee for us to consider.

What are we doing here today? We are removing just a few of the regulatory weeds that were promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB. These mortgages that we are talking about have rules that make it harder for low- and moderate-income Americans to qualify for a mortgage--harder.

They negatively impact consumers and community banks who offer the majority of these loans to middle class Americans, and it makes them outside of the ability that people have to get them because of the high cost of regulation.

These costs are passed on to consumers who, once again, are victims to an overzealous regulatory regime who stated that they were there to help the consumer in the first place.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today because we have a bipartisan piece of legislation that has gained over the last few years more people who understand the issues--not only those in the Financial Services Committee, but across Congress--and we are here today because of what is a good bill to remove a few weeds from the garden one at a time. Chairman Hensarling has given us that chance today.

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I want to point out that the Rules Committee asked Members and their offices to submit any ideas and amendments regarding this bill, and none were submitted. That is why we have a closed rule. That is why H.R. 685, the Mortgage Choice Act, and H.R. 650, Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act, are both under a closed rule because we tried to make it available to as many Members as chose, and no one took us up on it.

Mr. Speaker, we are here because we have two Members who have worked hard in committee, they have worked hard over the last few years as new, young members of this Republican majority, Bill Huizenga from Michigan and Stephen Fincher from Tennessee, who worked very diligently inside the Financial Services Committee over the years and have brought these bills back to us.

This is not their first appearance. We now have a Senate, however, that we believe will take up these bills.

Republicans are committed to reducing the regulatory burden that makes it harder for families to get homes. In this case, it may be manufactured housing, it may be directly aimed at the middle class. It may help people a lot. The answer is, yes, it does. And that is why we are doing this.

We are taking our time today because the middle class of this country deserves a right for us to pay attention to them. And community banks, small banks back home that people walk into, see the same people, day after day, year after year, who live in these communities, community bankers are there to help grow not only the middle class but also rural America and the areas that oftentimes are in agriculture areas, perhaps in the areas where there is a lot of energy exploration.

People choose to have their own roof over their own head and need a chance to get a loan, need a chance to take care of their families.

So, look, we are willing to keep working out and reaching out to Democrats. This is a bipartisan bill, and we are willing to do whatever it takes so that individuals and families can help realize this American Dream.

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