Franken outlines plan for homeowners headed for crisis

Last update: August 2, 2008 - 10:16 PM

U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken praised Congress on Saturday for passing a housing bill aimed at stemming the mortgage crisis, but called for additional measures to ease the plight of homeowners.

Franken is the DFL nominee for Senate, but still faces a September primary.

Appearing with U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison in north Minneapolis, Franken called for:

• A 120-day moratorium on foreclosures, which would also require financial counseling for homeowners at risk of losing their home.

• Allowing bankruptcy judges to rewrite terms of loans on primary residences.

• Increased funding to redevelop abandoned and foreclosed homes.

• Minimum federal standards for state licensing of brokers who originate mortgages.

President Bush earlier vowed to veto the bill because it called for $3.9 billion in neighborhood grants, which he said would benefit mortgage lenders who precipitated the crisis.

He later backed the bill saying that distressed homeowners could not wait.

U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, Franken's Republican opponent, voted for the bill and was quoted last week as saying, "This is a crisis. We have to deal with this issue."

Lawmakers in both parties applauded passage of the bill last Saturday. "It will make a difference not only in the housing market but in the entire economy," Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.

This article contained information from the Associated Press, New York Times and Mankato Free Press.

RANDY FURST

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