Today, Arizona's family-hating Congressman Jeff Flake was one of only four U.S. House members to vote against House Resolution (HR) 5074, the FHA Reform Act, to help families realize the dream of homeownership, protect Americans from mortgage fraud and save taxpayers money. The bill passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 406-4, with AZ-06's oddball Jeff Flake, as usual, being one of a tiny minority of weirdo legislators in either party to try to block legislation helping American families.
In addition to strengthening the FHA's capital base by raising mortgage insurance premiums, the bill aims to crack down on FHA-approved lenders. For example, the bill grants FHA the authority to terminate a lender's approval on a national basis due to the performance of regional branches.
The final version of the bill includes "reforms that will rebuild the American dream of homeownership and reduce federal spending by $2.5 billion," House Democrats said in a statement, adding that the bill "protects Americans from mortgage fraud and holds the FHA accountable by improving its internal reporting systems and providing greater transparency to the public and Congress."
Industry groups are already embracing the bill's aims to maintain the availability of financing in the mortgage market. "The reforms contained in this bill will help stabilize FHA's finances by allowing the agency to raise its annual premiums and better take corrective action against lenders who are putting the program at risk," said Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) chairman Robert Story Jr, in an e-mail.
"Importantly, the bill also contains provisions to increase FHA's multifamily loan limits for elevator buildings and in extremely high cost areas," Story added. "One of MBA's top legislative priorities, increasing the multifamily limits in this way will help lenders finance the construction and refurbishment of much-needed affordable rental housing in many urban areas of this country."
Jeff Flake, of course, hates American families and if re-elected, will continue to block all efforts to improve affordability for both homeowners and renters. The laissez-faire free-market fanatic ideologue,
opposed here by 165 of his Republican colleagues, has made no secret of his desire to destroy the American family. Anti-family forces are putting thousands of dollars behind his current campaign for another term in Congress.
