WASHINGTON - The House approved far-reaching assistance on Wednesday for the housing market, including an aggressive plan to help hundreds of thousands of borrowers avoid foreclosure. The measure also includes broad authority for the Treasury Department to protect the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies from collapse.
The White House, citing an urgent need to restore market confidence in the two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said President Bush would sign the measure despite his opposition to the inclusion of $4 billion in grants for local governments to buy and refurbish foreclosed properties.
Bush's support ensures that the bill will become law after final passage by the Senate, possibly on Friday or Saturday. The House approved the bill by a vote of 272-152, with just 45 Republicans joining 227 Democrats in favor of it.
Lawmakers described the legislation as a landmark shift in the government's role in the housing market.
Lawmakers said the bill, which seeks to slow the steepest slide in house prices in a generation, extends a generous helping hand both to Wall Street and Main Street. They said it would rank in importance with the creation of the Home Owners' Loan Corp. as part of the New Deal to prevent foreclosures in the 1930s and the legislation in 1989 responding to the savings and loan crisis.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., a primary author of the legislation, said troubled homeowners might get relief within days of Bush signing the bill, because lenders have long known details of the legislation and could move quickly to help borrowers refinance.
However, the vote laid bare divisions within Republican ranks as its members came under pressure from the White House and business groups to support the measure but also expressed concern about its potential cost to taxpayers.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, expressed disappointment that the president would sign "multibillion-dollar bailout for scam artists and speculative lenders."