American Dream Act
Latest action. Referred to House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs.
American Dream Act - Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act of 1933 to authorize the Home Loan Bank Board to permit Federal savings and loan associations to offer graduated payment and reverse-annuity mortgages. Requires provisions in any reverse-annuity mortgage to protect the mortgagor from loss of the property involved in the event funds available under such annuity are depleted. Directs each savings and loan association to offer a fixed-rate mortgage along with the offer to extend a graduated-payment or reserve-annuity mortgage and to make a comparison of the terms of such instruments. Stipulates that any graduated-payment mortgage must provide the mortgagor with an option to convert such mortgage to a fixed-rate mortgage. Prohibits any annual increase in the payment due under a graduated-payment mortgage from exceeding seven-and-one-half percent of the total payment during the preceding year. Prohibits any savings and loan association from investing in any variable-rate or rollover mortgage after January 1, 1979. Grants any individual who received such a mortgage after such date the option to convert it to a fixed-rate mortgage bearing interest at the rate available when the alternative instrument was received or at the prevailing rate on the date of enactment, whichever is lower. Exempts any director from criminal penalties for violation of an order from the Board with respect to variable rate or rollover mortgages between January 1, 1979, and the date of enactment of this Act.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on February 8, 1979. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 8, 1979: Referred to House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 96th Congress (1979-80), 613 of the 12,581 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JOHN FARY (D-IL) introduced it on February 8, 1979. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 8, 1979, 17381 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 17381 days ago, on February 8, 1979.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 96th Congress has not finished by January 3, 1981 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers