December 6, 2007

Washington, DC—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the following statement today in response to President Bush’s remarks this afternoon on the nation’s subprime mortgage crisis:

“The President is right to address the nation’s housing crisis, but wrong in his assessment of why it is stalling in Congress. Democrats support this bill and have tried twice in the past three weeks to bring up the FHA Modernization Act – a bill that helps as many as 200,000 Americans at risk of losing their homes – but Republicans have stood in the way both times.  Of course, this is just the latest example of obstruction in Senate Republicans’ record-shattering pace.

“If the President is serious about addressing this emergency in a meaningful way, I encourage him to show leadership by calling Senator McConnell and insist that he drop his party’s strategy of blocking critical needs, including the FHA bill.”