Pence Calls for Homeownership Policies That Put Personal Responsibility First

ARTICLE MEDIA RELATED

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, made the following statement today on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in opposition to the "Helping Families Save Their Homes Act:"

"Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule and to the ‘Helping Families Save Their Homes Act.' It's legislation that really will punish those who played by the rules and lived within their means by forcing them to subsidize Americans who made irresponsible choices. And this bill also throws good money after bad.
 
"The ‘Hope for Homeowners' program was intended to help 400,000 borrowers but the American people deserve to know that to date, the program has assisted 43 borrowers, not 43,000, not 430.  Forty-three. The President said it was his goal to ‘eliminate government programs that are not performing.'  We could start with the ‘Hope for Homeowners' program.
 
"And more than anything else, Mr. Speaker, we're witnessing a disturbing pattern here in Washington, one that rewards bad decisions at the expense of people who have made right choices. We saw it in the bailout of Wall Street under a prior Administration and it continued under the new one. We saw this with the so-called stimulus bill that was designed to stem the rising tide in this economic crisis, but was nothing more than a wish list of spending priorities put on the backs of our children and grandchildren.
 
"Today we should note more than 90 percent of Americans are paying their mortgages on time and meeting their financial obligations, even in these difficult days. Let me say with authority, as we consider this bill, people back in Indiana don't want a handout. They don't want to turn a blind eye to people who through no fault of their own found themselves involved in loans which they should not have been engaged. Hoosiers don't want to be on the hook for a handout for people that knowingly and willingly made bad choices.
 
"These are tough times. We should all be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to put our economy back on track. But we need to begin by reaffirming the principle of personal responsibility. The bill before us fails this essential standard, rewarding bad behavior will not solve our problems, it will only worsen them. We should reject this bill. We should pursue the kinds of policies that put personal responsibility first and ultimately create the incentive for Americans who have invested in their homes and in their lives to continue to expand and prosper."

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