Obama expands program to help homeowners

Last update: May 20, 2009 - 8:24 PM

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President Obama said homeowners facing foreclosure would have a second chance under a measure he signed into law Wednesday, but he added consumers still must live within their means.

The law encourages banks to spare homeowners from foreclosure and cracks down on lenders who take advantage of them. The bill includes a provision authored by Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., granting additional rights to tenants living in properties undergoing foreclosure.

Said Obama, "Americans living in fear that they're one illness or one accident away from losing their home, hardworking Americans who did all the right things, met all of their responsibilities, yet still find the American dream slipping out of reach."

The law, called the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, expands a $300 billion program that encourages lenders to adjust a mortgage if the homeowner agrees to pay an insurance premium. The program, set to expire in 2011, would swap out a homeowner's high-interest rate for a 30-year fixed loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration. Because of strict eligibility requirements, only about 50 homeowners are refinancing through the program compared to the 400,000 people it was estimated to help. It also extends through 2013 an increase in deposit insurance by the FDIC from $100,000 to $250,000.

HOUSE ALLOWS GUNS IN NATIONAL PARKS

In a defeat for gun-control advocates, Congress has voted to allow people to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. The House approved the measure, 279-147, on Wednesday, one day after the Senate acted.

A total of 105 Democrats in the House -- including Minnesota's Jim Oberstar, Collin Peterson and Tim Walz -- joined 174 Republicans in supporting the gun measure, which essentially restores a Bush administration policy that briefly allowed loaded guns in national parks earlier this year. The measure allows licensed gun owners to bring firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges as long as they are allowed by state law.

Minnesota Democrats Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum voted no. Republicans John Kline and Erik Paulsen voted yes. Michele Bachmann did not vote.

Democratic leaders decided not to remove the gun provision inserted into the popular credit card measure. They said there was not enough time to send the bill to a conference committee, where it could be removed, and still get it to President Obama by Memorial Day as he has requested.

EFFORT TO OVERHAUL WEAPONS PURCHASES

The Senate voted Wednesday to bring new discipline to a Pentagon acquisition system that too often goes off target with exploding costs and lengthy delays.

The Senate's 95-0 vote, and expected House action today, would meet a request by Obama to get an acquisition overhaul to his desk before the weekend.

The bill deals mainly with major weapons systems, which make up only about 20 percent of Pentagon purchases. But the potential savings are massive. A congressional report found that 96 major weapons systems are running almost $300 billion over original cost estimates.

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