The McCain campaign has a 'new housing plan' to save our economy

The campaign of Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) says they have an answer to the current housing crisis. This answer comes in the form of the "American Homeownership Resurgence Plan". Doug Holtz-Eakin, McCain-Palin 2008 senior policy adviser, held a teleconference to outline this new plan. Holtz-Eakin said the plan would provide direct help to home owners, allowing them to stay in their homes and avoid foreclosures that would damage he property values in their neighborhoods. The plan would also provide to the housing market lower interest rates, around five percent.

Holtz-Eakin said, "Starting with the home owner and moving up, you accomplish some of the objectives of the financial stabilization plan that we've seen come out of congress and proposed by the administration in recent weeks. Senator McCain believes this is exactly the right kind of policy, providing direct help to homeowners, at the same time supporting the financial markets and keeping them from further damaging the availability of credit to mainstream America, one of the real threats to the economy at this time." Funding for the initiative would come from authorities, including the $300 billion worth of refinance capacity provided by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the $700 billion provided by the Treasury Department to Congress.

Even though the FHA and the Treasury Department already have the authority pursue this plan, the McCain campaign believes stabilizing the housing markets haven't really been publicly targeted, and were originally only geared to help four-hundred or five-hundred thousand homeowners. The new plan proposes to aid homeowners on a larger-scale than the FHA and Treasury Department have planned, and therefore be a more effective supplement to the housing crisis response.

Hoyer: We are in the eye of the storm

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) likened the U.S. financial crisis to a hurricane saying that if any bailout bill passes the House it will be "the eye of the storm." He recalled the scenes of devastation left by the recent powerful storms Ike and Katrina, saying that if emergency bailout legislation does not pass there will be broad damage nationwide.

Hoyer began his regular sit down with reporters by summing up the changes made to the bailout bill since it failed to pass in the House on Monday. Hoyer said that the new bill had more transparency and oversight including a congressionally-appointed oversight board. There have also been taxpayer protections added to the legislation. One of these provisions will give equity in any potential payback to the residents of all states equally. There is also an outline for assessment of how the government-owned assets are doing in the market. After five years out, if these mortgages and mortgage-backed securities have not yielded significant returns a fee will be paid by the financial industry at large to cover the government's costs. Hoyer also reassured the press that the portions of struggling companies that the federal government plans to buy will not involve them in any voting on company boards, "We are not going to get into the business of the government running private companies," Hoyer said.

Hoyer said that while calls to his congressional office continue to have three to one of constituent callers against the bailout, the number has gone down from six to one early in the week. Hoyer said people saw the effect of the bill's failure on the state of the market. The significant loss caused people to recognize the downside of not passing some kind of financial intervention. "People saw on Monday the direct impact on them," he said. "Then the wind started to whip up on this hurricane."

The Democratic leader said he didn't expect a vote on this legislation until Friday, as he said there are still discussions of add-ons including increased unemployment insurance, which Republicans oppose. He said that the House continues to listen to constituents. "Most people say we need to act," Hoyer said. " But they are not sure what we need to do. Which would put them in the same position as the Congress."

Pelosi: Nothing personal Mr. Paulson

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced that she is not buying into the proposed $700 billion rescue package. She said that the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson's proposal is giving away "very expensive powers" without oversight.

"Nothing personal Mr. Paulson, we don't want any secretary of the Treasury having that much power," Pelosi said.

According to the speaker, progress is being made on the bailout issue currently debated in Congress, saying there is need for a strong oversight for the situation not to repeat itself again and the bill will need serious revision before complete. Pelosi said that the market should not be stabilized with taxpayers money. "There had to be a clear message to the markets that Congress would act, and we would act responsibly," she said.

Pelosi said that protecting the taxpayer and stabilizing the markets are the goals of any legislation, "We will have a package that will speak to the issue in a substantial way, and the markets of our seriousness" Pelosi said.

Pelosi admited she is not certain if the current situation will have changed after today's White House meeting, saying a lot of decisions is still to be made before the markets reopens on Monday.