WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), a co-sponsor of the Foreclosure Prevention Act (H.R. 3221), urged her Senate Republican colleagues to stop their parliamentary objections and allow the chamber to pass the bill before the July 4 congressional recess. The legislation, which improves on the Senate’s original proposal that overwhelmingly passed in April, would help Americans keep their homes through emergency funding and broaden government oversight over the mortgage industry. It includes Senator Mikulski’s amendment, which also passed in the April bill, to increase funding for legal aid to help families facing foreclosure.

“We don’t have time for parliamentary tricks! The subprime housing crisis is a Code Red emergency and the American people are counting on us. Thousands in my state got caught in the scams. They aren’t Wall Street speculators, they’re Main Street Americans. We need to put government on the side of kids, families and communities,” said Senator Mikulski. “This is a common sense bill with bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to stop playing games and join me to pass this legislation and get homeowners across the nation the help they desperately need.”

The housing legislation removes the most egregious corporate tax breaks that had nothing to do with keeping families in their homes, and instead focuses the tools of the federal government on helping families in need keep their homes. The bill creates an initiative within the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to prevent foreclosures for hundreds of thousands of families and a new permanent fund that will help create more affordable housing for millions of Americans in communities across the country. It also establishes an affordable housing trust fund and increases FHA loan limits for high cost areas.

Senator Mikulski’s amendment will provide $30 million in federal funding for housing legal services at NeighborWorks (also known as the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation). The proposal comes as a result of feedback from housing experts and homeowners at the mortgage crisis roundtables she held throughout Maryland in February. For more information, go to: http://mikulski.senate.gov/Newsroom/PressReleases/record.cfm?id=295924.

NeighborWorks grant funding will be distributed to organizations that can put the money to work right away. Areas struggling with the biggest foreclosure problems, such as Maryland, will be given priority. Recipients of NeighborWorks grants will use the funds to represent and negotiate for homeowners facing foreclosure.