March 28, 2014

JOHNSON, CRAPO ANNOUNCE HOUSING FINANCE REFORM MARKUP

Washington, DC – Today, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) announced the Committee will markup bipartisan housing finance reform on Tuesday, April 29, 2014 at 10:00 A.M.

“After canvassing other Members of the Committee, we plan to schedule a markup of our bipartisan housing finance reform proposal on Tuesday, April 29th,” said Chairman Johnson. “From the start, Members of the Committee have been extremely engaged on the issue and have demonstrated a sincere interest in advancing reform in a bipartisan manner. I look forward to a thoughtful debate in Committee as we seek to move reform one step closer to the finish line.”

“It is critical that we vote on reforming our broken housing system,” Ranking Member Crapo said. “We have produced a strong, bipartisan product, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to move this legislation forward and end the five year-plus status quo.”

Earlier this month, Chairman Johnson and Ranking Member Crapo unveiled a bipartisan housing finance reform proposal that used Senator Corker and Warner’s bill (S.1217) as the framework. Chairman Johnson and Ranking Member Crapo’s proposal is designed to protect taxpayers from bearing the cost of a housing downturn; promote stable, liquid, and efficient mortgage markets for single-family and multifamily housing; ensure that affordable, 30-year, fixed-rate, prepayable mortgages continue to be available, and that affordability remains an important consideration; provide equal access for lenders of all sizes to the secondary market; facilitate broad availability of mortgage credit for eligible borrowers in all areas and for single family and multifamily housing types.

The legislative text can be found here, the section-by-section of the legislation can be found here, and a detailed summary can be found here.

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