- 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 »
McCain: 'New Money' Might Fund $300 Billion Mortgage Plan
Email
ShareOctober 09, 2008 7:11 PM
ABC News' Teddy Davis, Hope Ditto and Arnab Datta Report: John McCain's $300 billion mortgage buy-up plan may require new funds, according to a Thursday interview the Arizona senator gave to ABC News' Charles Gibson.
Asked if his mortgage plan would be "new money or part of the $700 billion" already appropriated by Congress for the Wall Street bailout, McCain said, "part of the $700 billion, new money, if necessary."
"Look," he continued, "in one day they wiped out $1.2 trillion when it dropped 700 points. And I'm not throwing this money around lightly. But if the housing values continue to go down, there's no floor. There's no turnaround here. We all know what was the catalyst for this catastrophe. And that was Fannie and Freddie."
The Obama campaign reacted to the Gibson-McCain interview by charging that the Arizona senator's plan "just keeps getting worse."
"John McCain's risky bailout scheme just keeps getting worse," Obama-Biden spokesman Hari Sevugan tells ABC News. "After calling for a spending freeze, now he tells us he wants as much as $300 billion in new spending for a scheme that would have taxpayers subsidize the same banks on Wall Street that got us into this mess. John McCain’s response to the financial crisis gets more erratic by the day."
In an outline of the plan emailed to reporters during Tuesday's debate, the McCain campaign indicated that the $300 billion plan would be drawn exclusively from the recently enacted $700 billion Wall Street bailout.
On Wednesday, McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin altered the Tuesday night plan, saying it would be drawn from "several pots of money".
"The initiative would rely on authorities that have been provided, in recent months, by the Congress," said Holtz-Eakin on a Wednesday conference call arranged by the McCain campaign. "There's $300 billion worth of refinanced capacity at the FHA at this point. That can be combined with the statutory capacity of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are now owned by the federal government, for all practical purposes, to purchase mortgages."
"You know," he continued, "if a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac bought 80 percent of the mortgage, you could leverage that $300 billion in refinancing tremendously. And there's also the $700 billion that was provided to the Treasury by the Congress. There's direct purchase authority in there to augment these as well, although it may be useful to reserve that for other purposes."
The designated funding source is not the only aspect of McCain's plan that changed from Tuesday to Wednesday.
As first reported by Politico's Mike Allen, McCain also changed the substance of the mortgage buy-up plan, "making it more generous to financial institutions and more costly for taxpayers."
The McCain campaign told reporters in a Tuesday issue paper that lenders "must recognize the loss that they've already suffered."
But when McCain posted his plan to the web on Wednesday, that sentence was missing.
"That language was mistakenly included in the initial draft and it's been corrected. It doesn’t reflect the intentions of the initiative, which necessitated the correction and the removal of the sentence," a McCain official told Politico. "A simple mistake."
October 9, 2008 in McCain, John, Obama, Barack, Vote 2008: Democrats, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (187)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
I will cook you breakfast for a week, I will wash your cars. Just vote for me damn it!
I'm a freakin POW for Christ's sake! Do you not know that!
I know how to fix the economy.
I know how to fix health care
I know how to reach across the table
I know how to win the wars
I know how to solve every problem
I'm just not telling you how. Because that's just what THEY'RE expecting me to do. And I'm a Maverick.
What if I give you a back rub?
Posted by: Last Gasps | Oct 9, 2008 7:19:04 PM
Seriously, I DO NOT want this guy anywhere close to the White House. He's losing it.
I'll stick with THAT GUY!
Posted by: Eratic and getting worse | Oct 9, 2008 7:21:02 PM
McCain you have proved this past month that you are a liar and a coward!
Posted by: jen | Oct 9, 2008 7:21:54 PM
McCain and Parrot should start planning an exit strategy.
(Though they may need help. Neither sems to know how to do that)
Posted by: Dave in VA | Oct 9, 2008 7:22:37 PM
It sounds like McCain is confused, but that's nothing new.
Posted by: Kathy | Oct 9, 2008 7:24:28 PM
"several pots of money" HAAAAAAAA.
Posted by: linda n carolina | Oct 9, 2008 7:24:36 PM
McCain official told Politico. “A simple mistake.”
I assume he's talking about the McCain/Palin campaign.
Posted by: JR | Oct 9, 2008 7:27:26 PM
Since when does the government renegotiate mortgages? This is nuts! When did Republicans turn socialist? Not me, thank you.
And worse, he'll buy the crap mortgages at top dollar rather than at the worthless paper they're at. What a waste of money.
Posted by: 1percenter | Oct 9, 2008 7:28:33 PM
No wonder Palin wants to go on SNL, she's looking for a new career, her political one is over. Thanks John, you at least did the country one favor during theis campaign, you rid us of Failin.
Posted by: JR | Oct 9, 2008 7:29:11 PM
I am untested, inexperience junior Senator who never voted. I can talk nicely walk nicely dress nicely. People like me. My disagreement with Republican cost 1 trillion dollar in one day but I am ready for bailout. My Advisor don't listen to me but vote for me -Obama
Posted by: Tim | Oct 9, 2008 7:30:34 PM
Watching the Republicans spin stories is like watching "Days of Our Lives".
If you can suspend all sense of reality for a while, it can at least be entertaining.
McCain's eratic behavior has gone into double time. Every day he is back tracking and reinventing what he said the day before.
And FOX had a great one on Palin and Troopergate today. Apparently it was all Todd Palin. He has now "confessed".
Loving husband Todd was just concerned for his family's safety ya know. And poor Sarah? Well she knew nothing about it at all.
Isn't it ironic that this story comes out after they dodged subpoenas for weeks and months after the investigation started? Just happens it's the same day that the Alaska Supreme Court said they would uphold the investigation.
And somehow it was mysteriously "leaked" to FOX.
I'm sure that the 30 lawyers McCain sent to Alaska had nothing to do with any of this. Certainly couldn't be a spin move. Nah, not by hockey mom Palin.
Posted by: Better than a Soap Opera | Oct 9, 2008 7:32:22 PM
My disagreement with Republican cost 1 trillion dollar in one day but I am ready for bailout. My Advisor don't listen to me but vote for me -Obama
--------------
Uh, Timmy boy
It was the Republicans who voted down the bailout.
It was McCain who suspended his campaign and then all negotiations stopped when he got to Washington.
But don't let the facts get in your way ok? It hasn't stopped your candidates.
Posted by: Truth Hurts the GOP | Oct 9, 2008 7:34:43 PM
The last quote tells it all: a simple mistake.
McCain on the economy: a simple mistake.
A simpleton in economic affairs.
Not to be voted for during a recession.
Posted by: trent | Oct 9, 2008 7:35:25 PM
Ask Reid and Nancy Pelosi Mr.Truth Hurts the GOP.
Posted by: Tim | Oct 9, 2008 7:36:10 PM
I'm sick of John McCain's SOCIALIST policies!
Hahaha
I'm certainly going to enjoy that line for a few more weeks.
Posted by: Oh, the irony of it all! | Oct 9, 2008 7:37:07 PM
mccain the mental giant is at it again---sounds like the songbird of the hanoi hilton.
Posted by: rodney | Oct 9, 2008 7:38:08 PM
Ask Reid and Nancy Pelosi
-----------------
What? Your comment was about Obama
But ok, you mean when the Pubs got their feelings hurt by Pelosi's speech. So they voted down the bill and cost tax payers billlions more because of it
Like Fish in Barrel with you guys
Posted by: Truth Hurts the GOP | Oct 9, 2008 7:39:32 PM
If a major inflation is your thing, and the consequent meltdown of the American economy, vote John McCain!
Sarah Palin for Treasurer!
We'd be selling Alaska to Putin soon.
Posted by: king | Oct 9, 2008 7:40:13 PM
well gang i believe the cost is approaching 20 thousand cost for every man woman and child in the usa---and for what --a bunch of crooks.
Posted by: rodney | Oct 9, 2008 7:40:48 PM
"No wonder Palin wants to go on SNL, she's looking for a new career"
JR, give her some credit please!
She's been acting for weeks now. She's been playing the role of a VP candidate.
Posted by: The Actor's Studio | Oct 9, 2008 7:42:03 PM
Post a comment
