This was a vote on an amendment by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) that would have listed the number of home mortgages in each state that were modified by the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). HAMP was a federal initiative that helped homeowners facing foreclosure to modify their home mortgage loans. This amendment was offered to legislation eliminating HAMP.

Maloney urged support for her amendment: “…I believe it is important for the public to understand State by State the number of mortgages--the number of families--who are still in their homes because of the HAMP program….These are real families and real savings. If our friends who have proposed to terminate this program want to talk about savings, they should think about the number of people in these states who have benefited from HAMP and are now saving money every single month. They should also think about the number of seriously delinquent mortgages out there that are on the verge of foreclosure….The numbers speak for themselves, and I think it is important that we highlight how we have helped families across this country and how many more are not going to be helped or are not being helped by terminating and closing this program.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) argued that the figures cited by Maloney’s amendment were inaccurate, and that HAMP had failed in many cases to permanently modify home mortgages: “The amendment fails to highlight that there are more failed modifications than successful permanent modifications….I think if you use my colleague's words and figures, it's fair to say that those are grossly inflated and go well beyond what is reasonable, what is serious, and what is agreed upon in the private sector…” McHenry also added: “…What the opposition on the other side of the aisle is doing is saying we should continue failure, we should endorse failure.”

The House rejected this amendment by a vote of 173-249. Voting “yea” were 172 Democrats and 1 Republican. 234 Republicans and 15 Democrats voted “nay.” As a result, the House rejected an amendment that would have listed the number of home mortgages in each state that were modified by the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).