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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 110 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 154 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2008 No. 32 Senate The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was appoint the Honorable BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, gunmen called to order by the Honorable BEN- a Senator from the State of Maryland, to attacked a checkpoint manned by Sunni vol- unteers, killing the Sunni volunteers. JAMIN L. CARDIN, a Senator from the perform the duties of the Chair. State of Maryland. ROBERT C. BYRD, Mr. President, this is 1 day and a half President pro tempore. billion dollars. That is what is going on PRAYER Mr. CARDIN thereupon assumed the in Iraq. The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- chair as Acting President pro tempore. What impact does that have? General Casey testified here yesterday. General fered the following prayer: f Casey said: Let us pray. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY O God, our help in ages past, our hope The cumulative effects of the last 6-plus LEADER years of war have left the Army out of bal- for years to come, thank You for the The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- ance, consumed by the current fight, unable gift of another day. Because of You, we to do the things we know we need to do. live and breathe and have our being, pore. The majority leader is recog- nized. And I failed to mention in my earlier and we would not take the gift of our comments that below the article about heartbeats for granted. f the suicide bomber is the report of Guide our Senators in their labors. SCHEDULE three more dead American soldiers: Give them the grace to work together CPT Nathan R. Raudenbush, LCpl Drew Mr. REID. Mr. President, following in the strategic mix that is our legisla- W. Weaver, and SPC Keisha M. Morgan. tive process. Make them such models of my remarks and those of the Repub- So that is where we are on the Iraq integrity that their actions will match lican leader, there will be a period of debate today. I will sum up in a short their words. Help them to resist the morning business for an hour, with the time, after I make a few other re- tendency to rely too much on their Republicans controlling the first half, marks, and I will ask consent so that own wisdom, as they permit You to the majority controlling the final half. we have some idea today as to how we lead them to truth. Grant that their Following morning business, we will will proceed. lives this day will be infused with Your resume the motion to proceed to S. I would tell all Senators that we will presence, love, wisdom, and power. 2633, a bill that calls for the safe rede- have, sometime today, either after the We pray in the Redeemer’s Name. ployment of the troops in Iraq. Today, 30 hours or before a vote on the motion Amen. the Senate will stand in recess from to proceed to the matter that is now f 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. before the Senate—immediately after IRAQ that, no matter what happens on that— PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mr. President, another day in Iraq. we will have a cloture vote on the sec- The Honorable BENJAMIN L. CARDIN As we see from the morning papers— ond matter, which is, as we all know, a led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: the Washington Post is a good exam- piece of legislation that calls for peri- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the ple—headline: ‘‘Suicide Bomber Hits odic reports by the President on the United States of America, and to the Repub- Bus in Iraq’s North.’’ Among other war on terror. Following that, when lic for which it stands, one nation under God, things, the article goes on to state: that is disposed of, we will go to the indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives housing stimulus package. That is f belt outside a bus in northern Iraq on Tues- what I would like to spend a few min- APPOINTMENT OF ACTING day, killing at least eight people and injur- utes on because we will get to that PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE ing many more. sometime this week. It is only a ques- tion of when we get to it. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The In a different paragraph: clerk will please read a communication The Tall Afar bombing followed a bloody HOUSING Mr. President, the sights and signs of to the Senate from the President pro weekend of attacks against Shiite pilgrims, the deadliest incident taking place on Sun- America’s housing crisis are all around tempore (Mr. BYRD). day when a suicide bomber killed at least 63 us. There is not a State in the Union The legislative clerk read the fol- pilgrims near the southern town of that doesn’t feel the housing crisis. lowing letter: Iskandariyah. Even as overall violence has Neighborhood streets are dotted with U.S. SENATE, fallen, the recent attacks underscore the one ‘‘For Sale’’ sign after another. And PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, tenuous security environment and the resil- Washington, DC, February 27, 2008. iency of the insurgency. once we have one ‘‘For Sale’’ sign or, To the Senate: In volatile Diyala province, armed men set even worse, the bank has a foreclosure Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, up a fake checkpoint and kidnapped 21 peo- sign on it, it affects the whole neigh- of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby ple. borhood. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S1217 . VerDate Aug 31 2005 03:58 Mar 01, 2008 Jkt 069060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\MIKE\TEMP\S27FE8.REC S27FE8 mmaher on PROD1PC70 with $$_JOB S1218 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE February 27, 2008 One of my boys lives in Las Vegas, in have credit counselors, and we have funds, expanding refinancing opportu- a nice neighborhood. The housing representatives from FHA. We have a nities, and amending the Bankruptcy prices there in the last 3 months have wide range of experts there to talk to Code to allow more home loans on pri- dropped 20 percent—20 percent. In Las these desperate people to see if any- mary residences to be modified. This Vegas, last month, there were more thing can be done to help them, and will help communities impacted by foreclosures than there were sales of there are some things that can be done foreclosures by allowing parts of the new homes. This is very unusual be- to help. These centers bring borrowers country with high foreclosure rates to cause Las Vegas has been the fire that and mortgage services together to talk access Federal funds to purchase fore- has burned upward for 20 years, cre- about how to help homeowners facing closed properties for rehabilitation, ating such an economic strong point foreclosure. rent, or resale. that it has been known for 20 years as The stories they tell are heart- The bill will help struggling busi- the most rapidly growing State in the breaking. I could tell lots of stories, nesses by making it easier for them to Union. but the one that stands out in my mind utilize losses incurred in 2006, 2007, and In these struggles, construction is a man by the name of Elisario. What 2008 to offset prior years’ income to re- workers are having trouble finding extraordinary challenges this man and coup previously paid income taxes. jobs. Construction workers are having his family face. He is a marine veteran This was the provision that was in our trouble making payments on their of the Iraq war. He has three children, previous stimulus package that our homes. In desperation, hard-working three little girls. Like thousands of colleagues on the other side of the aisle people have been talked into bad mort- others of these heroes returning from stopped us from moving forward on. It gages and are now seeing their homes Iraq and Afghanistan, the war took its is one the home builders liked very just slip away. Every day, new statis- toll on him. He suffers from post-trau- much. tics illuminate the depth of this grow- matic stress disorder and is recovering The legislation that will be before ing crisis in the housing market. from many surgeries related to injuries the Senate shortly will help families The crisis is everyplace. Today, the he sustained in Iraq. As a result of the avoid foreclosure in the future by im- Associated Press reported that the injuries he suffered in service to our proving loan disclosures during the number of homes facing foreclosure country, his family was forced, for a original loan and refinancing process. across our country grew by 57 percent time, to rely on the income from his And one of the provisions that was also in the month of January. That is com- wife’s part-time job. Now, remember in our package that we had, that my pared to a year ago. We also now know the three little girls. They fell behind good friends on the other side of the that sales prices have lost almost 10 in their mortgage payments. That aisle defeated, was one the President percent in the final quarter of last doesn’t surprise anyone.

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