WORLD> America
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WORLD> America
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Senate may pass mortgage aid plan as soon as today
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-25 23:52 The bill also would tighten controls and create a new regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants that provide huge amounts of cash flow to the home loan market by buying loans from banks. It would provide a $14.5 billion array of tax breaks, including a credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers who buy in the next year. And it would boost low-income tax credits and mortgage revenue bonds. The measure falls $2.4 billion short of covering the costs of those tax items, a sort point for Blue Dogs who oppose initiatives that add to the deficit. Mixing in a controversy involving lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats on the Ethics Committee proposed adding mortgage disclosure requirements for members of Congress to the bill following a flap over reports that Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., got preferential home loans from Countrywide Financial Corp., a lender at the center of the subprime mortgage mess. The proposal by John Cornyn of Texas, the senior Republican on the committee, and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the chairman, would remove an exception that currently allows lawmakers to omit home mortgages from their annual financial disclosures. On the broader bill, the 42 House members of the Black Caucus said in a letter to Democratic leaders last week that it has "glaring omissions," including affordable housing funds for states affected by Hurricane Katrina and grants for states and localities to buy and fix up foreclosed properties. To draw GOP support, Senate Democrats diverted the affordable housing money to pay for the foreclosure aid program. Some Republicans, however, are still vehemently opposed to the legislation, which they describe as a government giveaway for reckless lenders and investors. "They expect the federal government to turn their backs on responsible lenders and borrowers and renters waiting -- waiting -- to become first-time homeowners, and support those groups that have pushed our housing market into decline with bad loans and bad investments," said Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. "This bill is a federal government bailout." The Senate bill would provide $3.9 billion in grants to deal with foreclosed properties -- a House plan would provide $15 billion -- but the White House singled out the funds in its veto threat, and Blue Dogs are demanding that the money be offset with cuts elsewhere. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the Financial Services Committee chairman, has said he'd be willing to jettison the money and add it to a separate measure in the interest of a deal. |
