mr. speaker , i rise today with a heavy heart . 
we need to have a strong , independent and world-class regulator for fannie mae , freddie mac , and the federal home loan banks . 
the committee i serve on , the committee on financial services , has labored for 6 years , 20 hearings , hundreds and hundreds of hours , and hundreds of witnesses to put together what i think is probably one of the best examples of bipartisan activity this house has seen in many years . 
it is unfortunate that we come here today with the manager 's amendment excluding faith-based entities from participating in the affordable housing fund . 
i am convinced that the overwhelming majority of our friends on the other side of the aisle , if they understood the restrictions in the manager 's amendment and the denial by the committee on rules of a right to vote on the issue , that is all we asked , it was never considered in the subcommittee . 
it was never considered in the full committee . 
it has never had an up-and-down vote or any consideration of this issue . 
it appeared at the 11th hour to satisfy some political fears of some of the majority party 's members , and they felt this was a way of solving it . 
maybe it was directed at one entity , but in fact it has encompassed in its grasp the faith-based entities of this country which provide most of the affordable housing . 
i have to say that with this we are making our religious institutions choose between a joint mission of serving god their number one mission , and then helping the poor . 
they are going to have to give up helping the poor because if they were to do so , they will be restricted from spending their own funds , not these affordable housing funds , but their own funds , to bring out the vote , to have voter education , and to have even carrying a voter to the polls for people who do not have a ride . 
we have taken 15 protections in the bill to see that the intended purposes were not abused . 
we did not need these additional restrictions . 
they are there , i think , probably for political reaction purposes , and it is unfortunate . 
as a result , we are going to compromise an otherwise perfectly bipartisan bill that could have shone with great favor in this house at this particular time in our history . 
i find it unfortunate that we are denied this right to have an up and down vote , and , as a result , i urge my colleagues to vote no on the rule . 
