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Senate Should Follow House’s Lead on Terminating Failed Program

Washington, Sep 22 -

The Washington Post reports today on another failure of one of the Obama Administration’s foreclosure mitigation programs.

In an article headlined “HUD program to help struggling homeowners falling short,” the Post notes this is “the latest in a series of efforts that has left funds allocated by Congress unspent and has failed to help as many” borrowers as promised.

The Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program, which the Post in an earlier article described as a $1 billion “give away” program, is estimated by the Obama Administration to lose 98 cents for every one dollar it spends because of the program’s high default rate.

The House passed legislation 242-177 earlier in March to terminate this failed $1 billion program.  H.R. 836, sponsored by Financial Services Committee Vice-Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling and Chairman Spencer Bachus, ends the program.  So far, the Senate has failed to take any action on this bill to terminate this costly program that is obviously not working.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that passage of H.R. 836 would cut the federal budget deficit by $840 million.

As Rep. Hensarling asked when the bill was voted on by the House, “This nation is drowning in a sea of red ink…If we can’t terminate ineffective programs in order to save our children from bankruptcy and help create jobs, how are we going to make the tough decisions that are necessary to save the country from bankruptcy?”