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House
Approves Homeowner-rescue Bill
Pitts Votes NO, Bush Threatens Veto
May
8, 2008
On Thursday, the U.S.
House of Representatives approved a plan to rescue hundreds of
thousands of homeowners at risk of foreclosure by helping them
substitute high interest mortgages for affordable, federally backed
mortgages. The House approved the plan by a vote of 266-154.
Thirty-nine Republicans joined Democrats in backing the bill.
Representative Joe
Pitts, who's congressional district includes all of Lancaster County,
voted against the plan but was silent when the Administration bailed
out a major investment firm six-weeks ago. Pitts views the bill as a
bailout for irresponsible borrowers.
Pitts has said that he
supported victims of mortgage fraud but failed to attend local
hearings sponsored by US Senators and other Congressmen. He voted NO
on stiff penalties for fraudulent actions of lenders and mortgage
brokers in 2007.
Pitts has received over $17,500 in campaign
contributions from the PAC’s in the mortgage lending business. He
has received over $22,500 in campaign contributions from the
National Association of Realtors PAC and the Realtors Political
Action Committee.
Pitts voted NO on May 8,
2008, to a bi-partisan measure to rescue hundreds of thousands of
homeowners at risk of foreclosure. But the bill gained strong support
from rank-and-file Republicans worried that escalating foreclosures
are ruining lives and decimating neighborhoods.
Over one million homes are
in foreclosure, and millions more are forecast to join them over the
next two years. Home prices have fallen more than 11 percent, and
state and local tax collections are suffering.
Read more...
What
others are saying...
 In
voting against the housing rescue bill, Rep. Pitts again shows
his lack of concern for REAL PEOPLE with real problems.
Surely he must know that avoiding foreclosures by refinancing
helps not just the homeowners but also the neighborhoods in
which they live. These are treacherous economic times. The
bill was not a give-away but an opportunity for ordinary folks
to buy time, ultimately helping both homeowners and lenders.
Some Republican legislators see that there are hundreds of
thousands of real families needing help, but not Pitts.
Lois Herr, Executive Director, Lancaster
County Democratic Committee
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