U.S. Officials Fighting to Save Homeowner Aid as Lawmakers Fault Failures

[Purveyor]

By Lorraine Woellert and Rebecca Christie

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Obama administration officials launched a campaign to preserve as much as they can of $50 billion in foreclosure-prevention aid for homeowners amid growing criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.

“It’s very important to continue these programs given how difficult the housing market is right now,” Timothy Massad, the Treasury’s acting assistant secretary for financial stability, said in a conference call with reporters yesterday. Tens of thousands of borrowers are joining foreclosure-prevention programs every month, each saving more than $500 on their mortgage payments, Massad said.

The House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to weigh the future of the administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, and three other aid programs at a meeting today. Republicans want to eliminate funding for the programs, which both they and some Democratic lawmakers say have done more harm than good.

More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers unleashed their frustration onto Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and a half dozen other administration officials yesterday during a closed-door meeting that lasted for more than an hour.

“This is an arbitrary, capricious system that kicks hard- working people out on the street,” Representative George Miller, a California Democrat, said in an interview after the meeting. “This administration cannot allow this to continue.”

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