Member of Banking Committee previously voted in favor of legislation in the Senate

A Look Back at Lautenberg Achievements over the Past Two Months

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Representative Rush Holt (NJ-12) today wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, urging the House of Representatives to consider a lame duck session to take up a mortgage repair initiative, as one is not included in the Emergency Stabilization Act. Holt wrote that bad mortgages are at “the root of the problem” and that Congress needs to help Americans saddled with these bad mortgages. He suggested a program similar to the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC), which the Federal Government created in 1933 in that mortgage crisis. The program, which lasted 20 years, shored up a collapsing market by purchasing delinquent mortgages at a discount and working with homeowners to restructure the mortgages into more manageable terms. Congress and President Roosevelt authorized HOLC for $4.75 billion – or $76 billion in today’s dollars. With this investment, in its first two years, HOLC helped more than 1 million homeowners. When the HOLC finally ended, it showed a net $14 million surplus for taxpayers.

(Washington, D.C.) – Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) announced today that the Fiscal Year 2009 Department of Homeland Security funding bill, which passed Congress last week and which President Bush signed earlier this week, includes his request for $500,000 in new funding for a key flood mitigation project in the City of Trenton. The funding will help homeowners whose properties are in flood-prone areas. Holt requested the funding earlier this year and worked to get it included in the final bill.

(Washington, D.C.) – Representative Rush Holt (NJ-12) today urged President Bush to sign the “Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act” – legislation that Congress passed to increase funding for Amtrak to $13 billion over the next five years to cover operating costs, repairs and reforms. It would also support the construction of a high-speed rail line between Washington and New York and require the government and Amtrak jointly to develop minimum standards for measuring the performance of inter-city passenger trains. It would be the first reauthorization of Amtrak in over a decade.

FAA's Risky Plan Would Do Nothing to Address Congestion or Delays, Could Drive Up Ticket Prices

Bills Increase Funding for Amtrak, Improve Rail Safety Standards, Allow N.J. to Regulate Waste Sites along Rail Lines