House votes to kill Obama mortgage plan

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Source: cnn

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- The House passed a bill Tuesday to kill a signature Obama administration program that helps homeowners stay in their homes but has faced criticism as ineffective.

The House voted 252 to 170 to stop any new funding for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Eleven Democrats joined Republicans to defund the program.

The program taps the federal bailout that saved the big banks, providing incentives to mortgage servicers to modify mortgages for borrowers behind on their payments.

"To many struggling Americans seeking permanent mortgage relief, HAMP offered little more than false hope. More homeowners have been kicked out of the program than have received permanent relief," Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/29/news/economy/republicans_kill_hamp/index.htm

[ClarkUSA]

1. "Eleven Democrats joined Republicans to defund the program."

Who are these fuckers?

[msongs]

3. if th real obama was like your signature pic maybe the repubs would give up this stuff nt

[Shiver]

5. Seriously?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Republicans giving up on their agenda.. Wow, you are FUNNY!

[ClarkUSA]

10. How do you know the Dem votes weren't sanctioned by Pelosi to protect red-state Blue Dogs?

Wouldn't be the first time.

Also, this boneheaded bill will never be approved by the Democratic majority Senate.

Unlike some people, President Obama knows this. My sig looks good, doesn't it?

[russspeakeasy]

8. What is it that he's got? Chill out? Shit, he's scaring me

the way he rolls over every time someone criticizes what he is
doing. Why doesn't he get behind a program that appeals to his
old base of which I was one.

[ClarkUSA]

12. See Reply 10.

Link to Reply 10: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4792953&mesg_id=4792999

[jaxx]

9. 18 Dems voted with the pubs.....

Jason Altmire D PA-4
Shelley Berkley D NV-1
Dan Boren D OK-2
Dennis Cardoza D CA-18
Ben Chandler D KY-6
Jim Cooper D TN-5
Jim Costa D CA-20
Peter A. DeFazio D OR-4
Anna G. Eshoo D CA-14
Zoe Lofgren D CA-16
Jim Matheson D UT-2
Michael H. Michaud D ME-2
George Miller D CA-7
Bill Owens D NY-23
Collin C. Peterson D MN-7
Mike Ross D AR-4
Mike Thompson D CA-1
Peter Welch D VT-1

http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/112/house/1/198

[ClarkUSA]

13. Thanks, jaxx. Pelosi probably is okay with it, since this bill will die in the Dem majority Senate.

[jaxx]

17. Yeah I think so too.

But what a colossal waste of time. The pubs are out to repeal anything passed since 2009...knowing it will die in the senate, but doing it anyway for publicity.

[ClarkUSA]

19. It's a deliberate strategy.Republicans are playing to their teabagger base who they'll need in 2012

I am pretty sure many in the Teabagger House who are from swing districts will bite the dust in 2012, given this Congress' dismal approval numbers.

[Drale]

2. I would suspect in any non-human culture

"leaders" acting against their own people would warrant blasting them out of an airlock into deep space.

[pasto76]

4. and repubs offered what instead to keep folks from losing their homes?

oh thats right, not a damn thing.

[Blacksheep214]

6. The banks win again.

Damn!

[Fool Count]

7. Where is the freaking no-foreclose zone on that action?

Who's gonna run a humanitarian intervention to keep all those people from being thrown out in the street? Sarkozy, where are you?

[prolesunited]

11. Frankly, with the way the banks gamed the program

I'm glad to see it gone. They sucked the money out, but never helped the homeowners. The shame is that it will not be replaced with an effective program that really does help people stay in their homes.

[EFerrari]

18. Yep. It became a honeypot to lure people into foreclosure.

Good riddance.

[tjl148]

22. Senate

If this is the case then why, as posted here, would the democrats in the Senate vote to keep it? And if it helped the banks, why did the repugs vote to get rid of it? Seems backwards.

[EFerrari]

23. Not really. Dems vote to keep it so they will get cred with banksters;

the thugs want it dropped because they don't want the banksters in debt to the Dems.

[tjl148]

25. ???

So it sounds like you are saying neither party cares about what is best for the homeowners? The dems vote to keep a bill that is bad for homeowners so they can get "cred with banksters"? IF that is the case is there only one political party - *the ends justify the means* party now populated with both repugs and dems? Do they even listen to us anymore?

[EFerrari]

26. I'm probably the wrong person to talk to about altruism in Washington.

Sorry about that!

And, welcome to DU.

[Demeter]

14. Since this plan did nothing but subsidize the banking business and put

people out of their homes, I say, Good Riddance!

Don't buy the sizzle--hold out for the steak!

[Sirveri]

15. My rep is on that list, here is his public statement:

http://georgemiller.house.gov/blogs/blog/2011/03/floor-statement-on-the-hamp-termination-act.shtml

Floor Statement On The HAMP Termination Act

March 29, 2011 5:19 PM

Statement by the Hon. George Miller
In the House of Representatives
Regarding H.R. 839 – HAMP Termination Act
March 29, 2011
Mr. Chairman, with great regret but clear intent, I rise in opposition to continuing the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP, without significant changes. HAMP was designed to help millions of homeowners who have fallen victim to the financial crisis of 2008 and the collapse of the housing market but regrettably it is not working.

On behalf of struggling homeowners in my congressional district trying to avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes, I have gone to great lengths to encourage the Obama Administration to recognize the serious shortcomings of the HAMP program, shortcomings that have been well documented by numerous independent and authoritative sources.

But the Administration has been unable to successfully respond to the legitimate criticisms of HAMP and as a result the Administration faces opposition to its program today on the floor of the House not only from those who oppose everything this Administration does for purely partisan reasons but also from representatives like me who have genuinely sought to work with the Administration to improve this program.

I hope that my vote today is understood clearly by the Administration as one more effort on my part, on behalf of my desperate constituents, to get the Administration to recognize the urgency of the housing crisis and respond to it accordingly. I appreciate that much hard work has already been done. I know that many people are involved in this effort and many hours have been dedicated to the problem. But in the case of ongoing foreclosures nationwide and the abuses homeowners face from banks and mortgage servicers, all the hard work and effort has not been sufficient and more must be done.

Homeowners in my community and across the country are being lied to, chewed up, and abused by banks and servicers in an arbitrary and capricious system that has stripped them of their homes and their livelihoods. In my district, people who are in need of substantial help in their fights against the big banks are simply not getting it. Hard as I try with my staff, and hard as my colleagues try with their staff, we cannot do enough on our own.

Make no mistake – Republicans in Washington are not on the side of homeowners in this fight. They’re using the problems with HAMP as an excuse to once again oppose the Obama Administration, just as they have opposed the Obama Administration on every step it has taken to rescue the economy, for purely partisan reasons. Regrettably, the Republican approach to the housing crisis is to cut and run, to starve the economy of the investments it needs to create jobs and get the economy – and the housing market – back on its feet. Their bill today does nothing to help the housing crisis and it would deprive the Administration of funds that could be used to help homeowners. But their bill does one thing that I do support – it sends a message that homeowners are not getting the help they need from HAMP and that HAMP must be significantly improved or replaced in order to offer the kind of help distressed homeowners need.

So far, such improvements have not taken place. And I see no sign that they will. And so I am left with no choice but to register one more complaint by voting to end HAMP.

I hope today’s vote is understood clearly as a wake-up call to the Administration that HAMP is not good enough today to earn my support and that it must be strengthened immediately or replaced by a program that does work. I hope my vote sends the message that banks and servicers are responsible for the abuse that is taking place in today’s housing market and that we intend to hold them accountable for their behavior, and that we are committed to helping struggling homeowners survive and recover from this crisis.

[Rage for Order]

16. Good. HAMP was a monumental failure

That said, there needs to be a real program instituted to assist homeowners, one that removes the loans from the mortgage servicers and puts them under the control of HUD instead.

[Betty]

21. so true

and I suspect it's the last thing on the administration's to do list. The program was so awful, I can't believe they were ever really serious about helping people.

[EFerrari]

24. It was a big farce. n/t

[defendandprotect]

20. Why did Obama wait so long to allegedly help people stay in their homes?

[w4rma]

27. This program was a huge con that lured homeowners into foreclosure only to be denied help through

this program. I have seen no attempt from the Obama administration to fix this problem, either.