Steel Indicates Little Room for Maneuver on U.S. Housing Bill

Bloomberg (05/14/08); Brinsley, John; Vekshin, Alison
U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Robert Steel has stated that there is little room for compromise on a bill sponsored by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., aimed at preventing foreclosures. The White House and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson remain in disagreement with Congress over the government's response to the nationwide foreclosure surge. In remarks less conciliatory than those made by the Bush administration earlier, Steel stated, "We think the Frank bill is overly prescriptive in several areas, [and] it doesn't have the dial set right." The Frank bill aims to create a program at the Federal Housing Administration to insure up to $300 billion in refinanced mortgages after loan holders cut principal to make payments affordable. President Bush remains opposed to using government funds as a bailout, saying it would reward lenders and speculators at the expense of taxpayers.