| 15 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago Ted Kennedy optimistic about Frank housing bill
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(NECN) - With thousands of New Englanders facing the loss of their homes, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank this week won support for a major bill to ease the mortgage foreclosure crisis. President Bush has threatened to veto it, calling it a bailout for speculators and irresponsible lenders. But one well-known New England legislator said Friday, he's confident foreclosure relief will get enacted.
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Senator Ted Kennedy has been representing Massachusetts for 46 years. While he's known as a liberal icon, Kennedy's also known as a bipartisan dealmaker when he wants to be. And Kennedy thinks despite the president's threats, after the bill gets tweaked a little, Mister Bush will come around and support Frank's plan to help homeowners get onerous mortgages refinanced.
A rare thing happened in Washington this week. Close to 40 Republicans voted for a bill by a leading House Democrat, Barney Frank, aimed at easing a housing crisis that's rapidly becoming an economic crisis. In particular, people whose homes are now worth less than what they owe on their mortgages and whose mortgage payments are spiking higher.
Frank's plan? Have the government help refinance up to 500,000 mortgages nationwide that would roll over a total of 300 billion in debt. The congressional budget office says the net cost to taxpayers would be just $2.7 billion dollars because the refinancing plan would head off billions of dollars in losses from foreclosures.
President
Bush however is vowing to veto the Frank bill if it doesn't get changed. The White House calls it a taxpayer-funded bailout for lenders and speculators.
Frank's bill also has at least general support from the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke.
Kennedy was in town to talk to the Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Business leaders say it's significant Kennedy's predicting a compromise on the Frank housing plan because of Kennedy's track record getting deals done. Harvard Community Health Plan CEO Charlie Baker could be the next Republican candidate for governor of Massachusetts, but he says.
Baker: "It's fair to say the standard rule of thumb in MA pretty simple. If you want something done, call the Senator."
Now, Kennedy's also looking at this with five decades of political experience. He told me he's seeing polls that show Republicans trailing Democrats by up to 16% in terms of which party voters think should control Congress. With elections coming up in November, Kennedy doesn't see how Republicans can afford not to pass some kind of legislation to ease the housing crisis.
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