H.R.5745 Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010

New funding appropriations  for the USDA Guaranteed Home loan have been put in another bill, H.R.5745, and is referred to as the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010.  This new bill was introduced on July 15th and it has now been Referred to Committee.

The process is something like this;  Introduced, Referred to Committee, Reported by Committee, House Vote, Senate Vote, Signed by President.  This bill is in the first step of the legislative process.  I'm not trying to be a Negative Nellie here but most bills don't make it out of committee.  The following is a short quote from the bill:

GENERAL PROVISIONS--THIS CHAPTER

Sec. 101. None of the funds appropriated or made available by this or any other Act shall be used to pay the salaries and expenses of personnel to carry out a biomass crop assistance program as authorized by section 9011 of Public Law 107-171 in excess of $552,000,000 in fiscal year 2010 or $432,000,000 in fiscal year 2011: Provided, That section 3002 shall not apply to the amount under this section.

Sec. 102. (a) Section 502(h)(8) of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1472(h)(8)) is amended to read as follows:

`(8) FEES- Notwithstanding paragraph (14)(D), with respect to a guaranteed loan issued or modified under this subsection, the Secretary may collect from the lender--

`(A) at the time of issuance of the guarantee or modification, a fee not to exceed 3.5 percent of the principal obligation of the loan; and

`(B) an annual fee not to exceed 0.5 percent of the outstanding principal balance of the loan for the life of the loan.'.

(b) Section 739 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 2001 (H.R. 5426 as enacted by Public Law 106-387, 115 Stat. 1549A-34) is repealed.

(c) For gross obligations for the principal amount of guaranteed loans as authorized by title V of the Housing Act of 1949, to be available from funds in the rural housing insurance fund, an additional amount shall be for section 502 unsubsidized guaranteed loans sufficient to meet the remaining fiscal year 2010 demand, provided that existing program underwriting standards are maintained, and provided further that the Secretary may waive fees described herein for very low- and low-income borrowers, not to exceed $697,000,000 in loan guarantees.

The above quote is from chapter one which is for the Department of Agriculture.  The rest of the bill, pages and pages and pages, 11 chapters in all, covers additional funding for just about every branch of our government that you can imagine, ...  some of which I have never heard of.  This bill will never emerge from Committee.  What a total waste.  You can read the bill here: http://www.govtrack.us/

So what ever happened to H.R.4899?  That was one of the first bills put together for supplemental appropriations.  I read on a web site that the Senate had passed it on July 22nd.  But I think this is deceiving.  I think what they voted on was to proceed with debate or Not to proceed with debate.  The Not to proceed with debate actually won.  To proceed with debate needed 60 votes and it only got 46.

This is all kind of confusing isn't it.  To debate or not to debate.  What does that mean?  On the web site I linked to above it said: 

"Last Action:  July 22, 2010:  Senate disagreed to the House amendment to the Senate amendment by Unanimous Consent."

That is an exact quote.  I found the exact same words on another site's status so I have to believe it is not a Typo!!     What does that mean???  Someone, ... please enlighten me!!!   These words are not congruent!

Let's look on the bright side.  Only two more months till the end of FY 2010.  Then the Guaranteed program will receive it's FY 2011 funding and all will be well until the next time.

H.R. 5003, H. R. 5017 Rural Housing Funding for the Guaranteed Loan

There is still no word on the H R 5017 Bill that has gone to the senate for approval.  This has a major impact on our economy.  They must take action.  (approve or not)  A decision is mandatory now.

I tried to track this bill through the process and this is what I found.  It totally pissed me off because you and I cannot possibly find out where it is or what all this BS really means.  There is no transparancy!  Who could possibly figuar this stuff out?  This is what I found:

• Apr 28, 2010: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
• See the Related Legislation page for other bills related to this one and a list of subject terms that have been applied to this bill. Sometimes the text of one bill or resolution is incorporated into another, and in those cases the original bill or resolution, as it would appear here, would seem to be abandoned.
• htt://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-5017&tab=related  This is where that link went to;
• Other Legislation with the Same Title
• The list below shows legislation in this and previous sessions of Congress that had the same title as this bill. Often bills are incorporated into other omnibus bills, and you may be able to track the status of provisions of this bill by looking for an omnibus bill below. Note that bills may have multiple titles.
• 111th Congress: S. 3266 Introduced
• H.R. 5003: Rural Housing Improvement Act of 2010
• 111th CongressThis is a bill in the U.S. Congress originating in the House of Representatives ("H.R."). A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate and then be signed by the President before it becomes law.
• Bill numbers restart from 1 every two years. Each two-year cycle is called a session of Congress. This bill was created in the 111th Congress, in 2009-2010.
• The titles of bills are written by the bill's sponsor and are a part of the legislation itself. GovTrack does not editorialize bill summaries.

2009-2010

• To increase the loan guarantee fee for rural housing loans guaranteed under section 502(h) of the Housing Act of 1949.
• Apr 13, 2010: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
• See the Related Legislation page for other bills related to this one and a list of subject terms that have been applied to this bill. Sometimes the text of one bill or resolution is incorporated into another, and in those cases the original bill or resolution, as it would appear here, would seem to be abandoned.

Well, this is my extent of tracking the Bill.  Maybe you can understand this stuff and can track it better than I can.  As American citizens, ... don't we have a right to to have access to theses legistrative actions in a form that uneducated people like myself can follow and understand??

I know I am stupid in the eyes of the people in Washington!  But, I am paying their Salary and so are you!!  I want to be able to understand and track all legislation.  I care and I vote!