Hillary Clinton Statement on George W. Bush Mortgage Plan

4/9/2008 -- After weeks of ignoring and downplaying my calls for action, the Bush Administration is finally acknowledging the need to help more struggling families restructure their mortgages and stay in their homes. But their proposal today simply underscores how out-of-touch they are with the magnitude of our economic challenges.

George W. Bush: Photo by Talk Radio News Service (CC)

In the face of an historic housing crisis, they're offering half-measures that could actually do more harm than good by prolonging the crisis and forcing even more expansive action down the road. The Bush administration needs to take off its ideological blinders and get serious about real solutions. We need to employ the same creativity and commitment to helping Main Street that we have already employed to help Wall Street.

For over a year, I've been raising concerns about the growing problems in our housing market and calling on the Administration to take more aggressive action. The Administration's response has followed an unfortunate pattern: they initially dismiss my calls, then drag their feet, and then, many months and thousands of foreclosures later, acknowledges the need to act but put forward completely inadequate solutions. We saw this with my call for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures; we saw it with my call for a voluntary freeze on subprime interest rates. And today we're seeing it with my call to more aggressively help restructure mortgages to keep families in their homes.

I've put forward a set of proactive, pragmatic solutions that actually respond to the magnitude of the crisis we face. I support Sen. Dodd and Rep. Frank's efforts to expand the FHA to help millions of at-risk homeowners. But I think we need to be ready to go further, and have the government buy up troubled mortgages if that's what it will take. We also need a second stimulus focused on housing, with at least $30 billion to help states and localities fight foreclosures in their communities. And we should amend our bankruptcy rules to give judges more discretion to help troubled homeowners and clarify the legal liability of mortgage servicers who act to help families stay in their homes.

Source: Hillary Clinton campaign

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •