McCain Calls For Federal Mortgage Aid

Presumptive GOP Nominee Announces Plan That Would Cost $3 Billion To $10 Billion

(AP)  Republican Sen. John McCain called for federal aid for well-meaning homeowners who can't pay their mortgages, an attempt to fend off criticism that he has been indifferent to the housing crisis and the market upheaval it has spawned.

The likely GOP presidential nominee sketched out a plan Thursday to help 200,000 to 400,000 homeowners trade burdensome mortgages for manageable loans in a speech in Brooklyn, N.Y. Aides said the plan could cost from $3 billion to $10 billion.

Still missing were details on exactly who would be eligible for help; McCain said he wants to aid those who borrowed sensibly but now can't handle their mortgages.

"There is nothing more important than keeping alive the American dream to own your home," McCain said in a speech before joining in a round-table discussion at a Brooklyn company, Windows We Are Inc.

"And priority No. 1 is to keep well-meaning, deserving homeowners who are facing foreclosure in their homes," the four-term Arizona senator said.

The Bush administration and both parties in Congress also are proposing varying degrees of federal help for burdened homeowners. McCain's plan falls in the middle; he would help at least twice as many homeowners as Bush and fewer than half as many as congressional Democrats.

In proposing specific aid, McCain struck a different tone than he did in a speech last month. Then, McCain said he opposed aggressive intervention by the government to solve the crisis and that he preferred only limited intervention and letting market forces play out.

Still, McCain's current plan would only apply to owners of a single home. Of lenders and borrowers caught up in what was once a lucrative buying-and-selling market, McCain said, "It is not the responsibility of the American public to spare them from the consequences of their own bad judgment."

Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama, who was reiterating his call for a second $30 billion stimulus package, said McCain's plan offers little in the way of solutions.

"I'm glad he's finally offered a plan. Better late than never," Obama told a town-hall meeting in Gary, Ind. "But don't expect any real answers. Don't expect it to actually help struggling families. Because Senator McCain's solution to the housing crisis seems like a lot like the George Bush solution of sitting by and hoping it passes while families face foreclosure and watch the value of their homes decline."

Democrat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called McCain's latest plan a half-hearted version of her own efforts.

"So now he's changed positions and is finally responding to a housing crisis that has been going on for months, but unfortunately his actions are only half-measures," Clinton said in a statement.

[minnick8-2009]

I''m shocked! It has been almost an hour since I entered my worthy request for assistance with my house, and no one has even commented or offered money.

[minnick8-2009]

Oh, actually, that was for a sizable donation to me, not from me to the government. I''m thinking that $30,000 to $50,000 ought to make a positive start.

[minnick8-2009]

It was my understanding the mortgage meltdown was primarily created because too many people were allowed to finance more house than they could actually afford. Lenders did this because they could always sell the paper and pass the loan along to someone else. So, now we have a nation full of lenders holding paper on houses that owners couldn''t really afford in the first place. Oh yea, the government (we the people) are going to bail them out. How nice. Well here is a scenario: I bought a post WWII house 22 years ago that I lived in with my children for 17 years. But as a single parent, working, going to school, and raising my children on my own, I couldn''t really afford to keep it up like I would have liked. Five years ago, I moved out of it and let my daughter and her family move in so they would have a place to raise my grandchildren. However, the parents have been in school themselves, so they haven''t had the money to fix it up either. To put it bluntly, it is a mess and in dire need of a make over and repairs. Can I have some of the mortgage bail-out money to fix up my house? It could use a new kitchen and bathroom, paint, flooring, applicances, furnace, wiring, and extra bedroom built on, yard re-do, and fencing all around. Any benevolent soul or government official who might see this and think I should deserve and be entitled to a leg up, let me know and I''ll provide my contact information for a sizable donation.

[dogpatch6]

McCain is right, give the money to the people who actually bought the house and want to live in the houses with their families, a home. The lenders and the speculators who tried to make a quick buck need to go out and get an honest job.

[prinzowhales]

Reagan...I voted for him the first time...coming out of the service...It only took a few months for me to discover that his ''conservatism'' was all talk... He made a nice foil for the kept press to exchange jibes with and, like Obama, could fool a crowd...a crowd that was just as sick and tired of St. Jemmy as we are sick and tired of the "anti-Christ"...Bush.

The grand jest of their free market support was revealed in the Demopublican call to deregulate the banks...while increasing the FDIC coverage per account up from $10,000 to $100,000.

"You''ll never lose money underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

[noloyalisti]

Just look at that arrogant leering war-monger. With his brain damage, he will make the dope Bush look like a wise boy scout. BombBombBombBombBomb Iran. Then don;t support the troops. And I though Bush was the anti-Christ.

[prinzowhales]

''Market forces''...What a joke...Those are the same forces that Mr. Trevelyn, the fellow picked by the Crown to ''manage'' the Irish Potato Famine...

Fixing mortgage rates at what the market will bear when you create money out of nothing to make the loans has nothing to do with ''market forces''. It just gives people the illusion of a market...Like the bogus energy market Enron set up to show off to people.

Reagan may have said this...but he increased the size of government and ran up sizable debts to do it.

[libh8er]

McCain is an arse. Market forces need to be left to work themselves out. Reagan was right. Government is not the solution to people''s problems....it IS the problem!