House GOP Kills Program That Stopped 600,000 Foreclosures

 
 The U.S. economy will continue to be terrible, as far as jobs and housing and state tax revenues, as long as the Housing Crisis continues. And, based on today's news and basically all housing news for several years now, the collapse of the Housing Bubble is an ongoing catastrophe -- with prices still falling, terrible loans still "resetting," 9% unemployment sending ever more families into default, 14 million homeowners "underwater," 3 million foreclosures last year and another 3 million foreclosures expected this year. How might the House Republicans help America "get back to work" or whatever? By eliminating the four federal programs that have helped 1.5 million homeowners temporarily reset their mortgages and 600,000 permanently modify their loans to more affordable amounts.

Killing this flawed-yet-helpful program isn't all the House GOP is doing, for America. They're also hoping to eliminate three other housing assistance programs -- including a Bush-era program to keep entire taxpaying neighborhoods from falling into blight by providing money to states and cities "to buy and rehabilitate abandoned and foreclosed properties." It's the Republican response to the fourth year of the nationwide housing nightmare!

 Reuters:  

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to kill President Barack Obama's signature program to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure, although the bill is unlikely to clear the Senate. A bill to terminate the program was approved on a 252-170 vote. It was the last in series of four measures brought forward by newly empowered House Republicans to end government assistance for homeowners hurt by the housing crisis.

So, uhh, it won't actually happen ... until, as a "compromise," the White House and the Senate agree to eliminate the programs. We do all need to come together to help the banks that originated all these bubble loans, and then took a trillion dollars in bailout money from the federal government.

 Bloomberg:  

About 1.5 million households have begun trial mortgage modifications through HAMP, fewer than initial projections of 3 million to 4 million. More than 600,000 homeowners have received permanent modifications.

The vote is the last of four brought by House Republicans to kill funding for homeowner-aid programs backed by the administration.

We hope all the working class "Republicans" who voted for these assclowns last November will realize this is all "for their own good." [ Bloomberg / Reuters ]