Clinton proposes steps to ease housing crisis
Updated: 2008-03-25 09:45
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said her proposals were in line with steps Obama has proposed, including a call by Obama for a homeownership summit. But Plouffe said Clinton was not in a position to carry through on her promises because she had taken contributions from special-interest lobbyists.
"She would operate within the current system and has said that repeatedly. Our belief is we need to change the system," Plouffe told reporters.
Clinton endorsed legislation in Congress proposed by Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut to expand the government's capacity to stand behind mortgages that are reworked on affordable terms.
Under the plan, the government would take failing mortgages off the hands of investors and write new terms that would prevent foreclosure. It would see lenders write down the mortgage amount in exchange for a government guarantee.
But she said a bipartisan group should determine whether that approach was sufficient or whether the US government should be more proactive and step in as a temporary purchaser.
With the April 22 vote in Pennsylvania still weeks away, both candidates have been making policy speeches and laying the groundwork for a lengthy campaign that is likely to stretch through the end of the primaries in June.
Obama leads Clinton among pledged delegates who will vote on the nominee at the party convention in August, but both candidates are wooing the nearly 800 superdelegates who are not bound to support a candidate and who are likely to decide the nomination.
In her speech, Clinton also repeated her proposal made last week for a new economic stimulus package that would focus on the housing slump.
The proposal includes a $30 billion emergency housing fund to put cash in the hands of local governments and nonprofit organizations to buy and resell properties to low-income people or turn them into affordable rental housing units.
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