While in the state during the holiday break, United States Senator Roy Blunt held a roundtable discussion with a group of HBA members at Metro Appliances and More. Blunt updated members on recent legislative action including the passage of the payroll tax cut extension including the provision ordering President Obama to grant a permit to the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline. Blunt said the pipeline is a key to helping the economic recovery.
Blunt also answered a number of questions from members regarding several of the housing industry’s key legislative priorities including the Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID). Blunt said he is very supportive of keeping the MID and believes that maintaining it as well as charitable deductions will likely be compatible with future efforts to reform and simplify the federal tax code.
Members also expressed concerns about the lack of credit for housing production. Blunt said he believes it is important to get regulators, legislators and lenders all on the same page to solve this challenge. Lenders often cite regulatory requirements or bank examiner pressure to shrink the banks’ AD&C loan portfolios as reasons for their restrictive actions.
Federal bank regulators maintain that they are not encouraging institutions to stop making loans or to indiscriminately liquidate outstanding loans. However, NAHB members who are dealing with banks all across the country suggest that bank examiners in the field are adopting a significantly more aggressive stance on AD&C loans out of fear of the regulators coming into the banks and targeting them. Currently in the House of Representatives, H.R. 1755, The Home Construction Lending Regulatory Improvement Act of 2011, offers a solution to the regulatory barriers. The National Association of Home Builders supports this legislation and at this point in the process it has been co-sponsored by several Missouri representatives including Congressman Billy Long.
The Senator said there is still too much uncertainty about health care and other potential regulatory costs, such as those which will drive up utility bills, for businesses to expand or start up and create jobs. In response to a question from an HBA member, Blunt said there are several factors which could alter implementation of new health care requirements including the resolution of pending lawsuits and if Republicans win a majority in the Senate in November and change that law.
Blunt provided a brief update regarding efforts to help Joplin rebuild including waiving the population requirements to make USDA low interest home loans available to Joplin residents.