(July 23, 2008)—The U.S. House passed legislation Wednesday intended to help 400,000 strapped homeowners who are facing foreclosure and to prevent troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from collapsing.
The 272-152 vote on Wednesday reflected a congressional push to send election-year help to struggling borrowers and to reassure jittery financial markets about the health of two pillars of the mortgage market.
The measure is on track to pass in the Senate and become law within days.
President Bush dropped his opposition earlier in the day, despite objections to $3.9 billion in grants the bill would provide for devastated neighborhoods.
Bush said the provision would help lenders and bankers, not the homeowners who need the help.
Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, voted against the bill because of what he said is a “$4 billion slush fund that allows state and local governments to buy foreclosed properties from lenders that are the root of the problem, and charging in to taxpayers.”
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