Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that the housing crisis has been “the biggest drag on our recovery from the recession.” He said his proposal, outlined earlier this week, would let homeowners who are current on their payments save $3,000 per year through refinancing into lower- interest loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration.
“The catch,” Obama said, is that his plan needs approval by Congress. “And as anyone who has followed the news in the last six months can tell you, getting Congress to do anything these days is not an easy job.”
“Right now, there are more than 10 million homeowners in this country who, because of a decline in home prices that is no fault of their own, owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth,” Obama said. It is “wrong for anyone to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom. I don’t accept that. None of us should.”
The remark is a not-so-veiled reference to Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination who said last year he would let the housing crisis “run its course and hit the bottom.”
Tax on Banks
Obama asked Congress to pay for the housing plan with a tax on financial companies with more than $50 billion in assets. Congress already has twice refused to approve such increases.
Representative Pat Meehan of Pennsylvania, in the Republican radio and Internet response, said Obama should tell Senate Democrats to hold votes on job-creation proposals, including a payroll-tax-cut extension and energy and infrastructure jobs plan backed by House Republicans.
Unless lawmakers from both parties reach a deal by the end of this month, the payroll tax would increase 2 percentage points.
“The nation’s unemployment rate has now exceeded 8 percent for three years running, the longest stretch since the Great Depression,” Meehan said. “Struggling families and workers want to end the gridlock and get our economy moving. House Republicans have offered good ideas that will help create jobs, but to execute them, we need leadership from President Obama and help from his fellow Democrats who control the Senate.”
A Labor Department report released yesterday shows employers added 243,000 jobs in January, the biggest gain in nine months, with the unemployment rate dropping to 8.3 percent from 8.5 percent in December. The economy remains vulnerable to risks such as a worsening of the European debt crisis.
“Our Democratic colleagues in Washington have a responsibility to tell the nation what they’re prepared to do to extend the payroll tax cut for a full year and give middle-class families and small businesses much-needed certainty,” Meehan said.
Meehan said it would “really be helpful” if Obama would urge Senate Democratic leaders to vote for House Republican jobs proposals whose goals he supports.
To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-04/obama-promotes-homeowner-plan-to-eliminate-u-s-s-biggest-drag-.html
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