Legal Commentary

Hillary Clinton Renews Call For HOLC

By Big Tent Democrat

Today in the Senate, Senate Hillary Clinton said:

. . . I think we all recognize that this is not the end but the beginning of what we must do. And I believe there are three big goals that we will have to address even after we pass the Rescue Package tonight here in the Senate and send it over to the House.

First, we must address the home mortgage crisis. For two years, I and others have called for action as wave after wave of defaults and foreclosures crashed against communities and the broader economy. We are not yet through the woods. Millions of mortgages are underwater or under specter of adjustable rates set to rise.

I am proposing what we're calling The Homeowners Mortgage Enterprise, an acronym obviously spelling HOME, to rewrite mortgages and reset terms so that creditworthy, responsible families can keep their homes and keep making affordable payments. Through such a HOME program, we'd also be able to consider freezing adjustable mortgage rates and even placing short term moratoriums on foreclosures. [MORE . . .]

When our country enacted a similar program in the Great Depression, we saved one million homes without costing the taxpayers a dime. In fact, the program ended up with a surplus. And only by rewriting the terms of the debt held by families whose mortgages can be salvaged will we recoup a great deal of the value of the debt we are purchasing from Wall Street firms. . . .

However, I disagree vehemently with Senator Clinton's support for the tax cuts included in this proposal:

Along with the rescue package will be a number of tax credits that will be passed by the Senate tonight. Again, Chairman Baucus has done yeoman's work getting these tax credits put together. The Senate supported them before in it as a fix for the Alternative Minimum Tax, energy production tax credits. In fact, we will be stimulating the economy for Main Street while we pass this rescue package for our credit markets. I think that's the right combination.

This is neither the bill nor the moment to enact tax legislation - 30 days before an election where the two candidates have such diametrically opposing views. It invites Christmas treeing this bailout and indeed, it does not even address the urgent needs Senator Clinton herself addressed in her speech. It is wrongheaded and just plain wrong.

I hope the House strips these provisions from the bill.

BY Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 01, 2008 (boomark / email).