- Daily Photo: Obama Jokes Around at G-20
- Blackwater gets replaced in Iraq
- Daily Photo: U.S. Marines Look Out for Taliban in Afghanistan
- Hillary Clinton the Tomboy and Her "Ah-Ha" Moment
- Obama Administration Sudan Envoy Headed to Region
- Daily Photo: Potential Flashpoint in Iraq
- Clinton Says New Afghanistan-Pakistan Plan Depends on Diplomacy
- Exclusive: Three Israeli Airstrikes Against Sudan
- Additional 4,000 Troops to Be Ordered to Afghanistan
- Daily Photo: Navy Submarine Trains in the Arctic
- Alarm Over North Korea Missile Prep
- Anti-Terror Stimulus? US Offers Rewards for Top Terrorists
- Daily Photo: Pakistani Women in Refugee Camp
- Condoleezza Rice Appears on "The Tonight Show"
- Diplomat and Aid Group Sound the Alarm on Darfur Camp Situation
- auto industry rescue
- Ballotwatch
- Biden, Joe
- Bush, George W.
- Clinton, Bill
- Clinton, Hillary
- Dodd, Chris
- Edwards, John
- Giuliani, Rudy
- Gravel, Mike
- Huckabee, Mike
- Hunter, Duncan
- Inauguration
- Iraq
- Kucinich, Dennis
- McCain, John
- Obama, Barack
- Palin, Sarah
- Paul, Ron
- Romney, Mitt
- Tancredo, Tom
- Thompson, Fred
- Veepstakes
- Vote 2008: Democrats
- Vote 2008: Republicans
- Washington
- White House
« Previous | Main | Next »
No April Fool's Joke - Senators Seek Bipartisanship to Address Mortgage Crisis
Email
ShareApril 01, 2008 4:00 PM
ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports: When Republicans and Democrats came out for a bipartisan press conference Tuesday, it was an odd enough sight on Capitol Hill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., felt the need to clarify to reporters, "This is not April Fools, this is serious business."
And Reid's appearance with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and their respective retinues bespeaks the importance of the mortgage crisis and its impact on the overall flagging US economy.
"The smoke is the housing crisis. The fire is the economy," Reid said, explaining why its important to move quickly on the bill.
McConnell said the Senate on "a bipartisan footing reminiscent of the good work we were able to do earlier this year on the stimulus package."
But for all the hope among disparate lawmakers about quickly passing legislation quickly to help borrowers in danger of foreclosure, there are a distinct lack of specifics.
Today's agreement, for instance, was to abandon a Democrat-pushed bill and give Senate Banking Committee Chair Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Ct., and ranking member Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Al., until noon tomorrow to lock themselves behind closed doors and hash out some sort of compromise bill.
That compromise, whatever it ultimately is, and assuming nobody storms out, will then become the foreclosure prevention act.
On the bright side, this is Republicans and Democrats working together. But real policy differences remain. Democrats want to give bankruptcy judges leeway to unilaterally restructure some existing sub prime loans. Republicans say that would be undue government intrusion into the market and could raise interest rates across the board as lenders react. On those grounds, Republicans blocked a vote on the Democratic bill in February and President Bush had threatened a veto.
But the federal financing of the bailout of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan last month threatened to make lawmakers seem more prone to help the execs on Wall Street than the homeowners on Main Street.
Rather than help people already on the precipice to stay in their homes, Republican want to create a $15,000 tax credit over three years for people who buy property that has been foreclosed upon and treat it as their primary residence. The idea is that the incentives to buy foreclosure property would protect the security of the market and prices overall.
Which is not to say there are remedies endorsed by both parties.
Likely elements of the compromise will be a $10 billion of tax-exempt bond authority to help refinance some loans and finance new loans, increase funding for counseling of families at risk of foreclosure, and money for block grants to communities to buy, rehabilitate and maintain foreclosed properties, protecting the rest of the real estate market in those places.
April 1, 2008 in Romney, Mitt | Permalink | User Comments (14)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
You mean that $600 check that gets sent out to everyone ain't gonna do it by itself?
Learn something new every day, I guess.
Posted by: The Commander Guy | Apr 1, 2008 4:10:26 PM
Westie
Its just a couple tanks of Gas for the Hummer.
Posted by: The Commander Guy | Apr 1, 2008 4:56:42 PM
Nice to see them working together. Seeing Biden and Dodd today working on different issues I thought for a minute there might be hope for Democrats,
Go Hillary!
Posted by: Jackie | Apr 2, 2008 2:08:45 AM
Just another lame attempt of them for a press conference to appear as though they're working for America. Like we haven't noticed their lack of effort over all the other issues they've failed us on. "McConnell said the Senate on "a bipartisan footing reminiscent of the good work we were able to do earlier this year on the stimulus package"
All the experts say this adds up to little for Americans, maybe if they put as much effort into solving the people that are really hurting as they have bailing out Bear Stearns they would have something to be proud of.
Posted by: Rotweil | Apr 2, 2008 3:32:33 AM
should have read: maybe if they put as much effort into solving the people that are really hurting the people, as they have bailing out Bear Stearns they would have something to be proud of.
Posted by: Rotweil | Apr 2, 2008 3:33:48 AM
darn laptop
last post should read:maybe if they put as much effort into solving the problems that are really hurting the people as they have bailing out Bear Stearns they would have something to be proud of.
Posted by: Rotweil | Apr 2, 2008 3:35:41 AM
Maybe if the Senate had shown some other instances of really working together in the past, I'd be more impressed with their efforts here, but forgive me for being pessimistic in my belief this will go no where and all this posturing adds up to no more than a sound bite.
Posted by: Rotweil | Apr 2, 2008 4:58:44 AM
Low interest rates creates a spread between short and long rates.
Banks borrow short (deposits) and lend long. Banks will be bailed out by this spread.
Low interest rates can also create inflation. Higher home prices will be popular to stem foreclosures
Low interest rates also crush the value of the dollar. But a low dollar is an invitation to foreigners to buy American stuff, including property.
Strategy now? Buy distressed condos from prior speculators between now and June 2009. Rent them until about 2010 and sell at 30% plus profits.
Anyone have any cash? Good credit? The window of opportunity is wide open.
Posted by: gorgon '08 | Apr 2, 2008 11:43:16 AM
The Obama campaign has worked hard to portray his efforts as a United States Senator to be superior to that of Senator Hillary Clinton.
As a Newsweek article (Substance Abuse
Debunking a bogus claim about Clinton's legislative record) reveals, the truth is actually quite different.
Specifically, a misleading e-mail has been making the rounds, alleging that Senator Clinton has fewer legislative accomplishments than Obama, and that they are less substantive.
According to a Newsweek article dated April 1, 2008, the e-mail is false in almost every claim relative to Obama's record.
The misleading email compares only the Clinton-sponsored bills that became law with all bills sponsored or cosponsored by Obama, whether they were signed into law or not.
The debunked email also includes legislation Obama sponsored in the Illinois state Senate, not the United States Senate.
The misinformation in the email states that Obama has sponsored more legislation than Clinton, when in fact he has sponsored less.
Finally, the bogus email states that Obama has passed more bills into law than Senator Clinton, when the opposite is true.
Contrary to the e-mail's assertions, Clinton's and Obama's contributions are not qualitatively different, and quantitatively, Clinton has the edge.
Misleading and untrue information seems to be emerging as patent behavior of Obama supporters and the Obama campaign alike.
Posted by: Jayhawk | Apr 2, 2008 12:04:16 PM
Jayhawk I read the article too, it's too bad Obama, the politician that was going to change politics, got changed by politics, but this really isn't anything new from the Obama camp, since this has been a practice of theirs since Jan of last year. It's politics, but don't tell the media, we don't want to spoil their Kumbaya moment promoting their candidate.
I guess making up claims like this is more important to Obama and his campaign/supporters than resolving the issues with FLA and MI.
Posted by: Rotweil | Apr 2, 2008 1:37:51 PM
No one is oerfect but I trust Hillary with my country and my vote. Not so sure about Obama. Hillary has my vote.
Posted by: sparklewdc | Apr 3, 2008 3:29:43 AM
Hey I'm having trouble paying my car payment, putting gas in that car so I can go to the grocery store to look at items on the shelf which I can barely afford. Is there a government plan other than welfare to help me pay for the basic's? If we start here where does it stop? These people signed on the dotted line when it came time to assume the loan just as I did. When I was foreclosed on what did I do? I didn't moan and whine and play the blame game, I did what your supposed to do when your own weak business decisions come back to bite your backside, I sucked it up and handed over the keys. There is life beyond foreclosure and we need to allow people to pay for their own mistakes. STOP THE FREE RIDE!!
Posted by: chuck | Apr 3, 2008 5:50:41 AM
For me the notion of sucking it up, doesn't cut it, or come close to what these people will go through. People don't just lose their homes, by the time that happens, their credit is a shambles, and the foreclosure make sure they don't get credit reestablished anytime soon. This effects their lives for years, and though I may not agree with the current plans to help them out in their current form, to trivialize what these people, (that were taken advantage of in most cases) will go thru and are going through, is very shallow. Even if it does happen to you, no, especially if it did happen to you, there should be a little more compassion.
Posted by: Rotweil | Apr 3, 2008 4:16:56 PM
Congress had no problem helping out wall street, but when it comes to the home owner they rather just tell us a good a story.
Posted by: David Donar | Apr 3, 2008 6:37:55 PM
Post a comment
