mr. speaker , i never thought a debate on gse reform would be so emotional , and it has been a long day and a very productive day and a good debate . 
let me , first of all , say to my friend from massachusetts , who worked very well with us in committee on this important legislation , let us not lose sight of the fact that this is the first major gse reform bill to ever come before any congress . 
it was well written and well received , and it does a lot to create a world-class regulator for the gses . 
secondly , it creates for the first time a housing fund that will funnel millions and millions of dollars into affordable housing through the gses , and i think we do not want to lose sight of that . 
thirdly , this legislation does not ban faith-based groups from providing housing . 
all it says is that we want groups that have had a record of building houses , a record of building houses in the various states , to be able to do that . 
we want to make certain that that money is used for housing , not for political activity , not for lobbying or everything else . 
fourthly , let me add , the gentleman from massachusetts ( mr. frank ) xz4001400 in his motion talks about a nonpartisan basis . 
there is no definition in the campaign laws that i can find that defines what is essentially nonpartisan , and i think we need to keep that in mind . 
understand this effort is to try to get as much money into the areas , in particularly the first 2 years in the hurricane-related areas , so we can provide affordable housing . 
those folks along the gulf coast that were affected , florida , alabama , mississippi , texas , need to understand that this is the best way to provide affordable housing as quickly as possible with the maximum amount of oversight in this area . 
mr. speaker , i yield to the gentleman from louisiana ( mr. baker ) xz4000120 , the sponsor of the legislation . 
