Well, the new Newt Gingrich is at it again. Virginia Representative Eric Cantor, who takes "credit" for leading the House Republicans to unanimous opposition to the Obama Jobs Bill, now is "opposing" the plan to help prevent foreclosures:
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that the Obama administration's yet-to-be-announced $50 billion plan to stem home foreclosures may only add to the country's fiscal and housing problems.
snip
"Homeowners, right now, are suffering under skyrocketing property taxes. And if we put the bill for $50 billion plus on top of all the bills that families have right now, you may very well be set to encourage more foreclosures," said Cantor.
The Hill: Cantor offers early criticism of Obama mortgage aid
If you don't have a home, you can't pay property taxes. And property taxes don't go to the federal government. Cantor knows that. Clearly he is being disingenuous.
More, after the fold.
Foreclosures have skyrocketed during the mortgage crisis.
A total of 8.1 million homes, or 16 percent of all households with mortgages, could fall into foreclosure by 2012, according to a Credit Suisse report in December.
Yahoo.com: Obama to unveil foreclosure plan, big lenders wait
President Obama will unveil his plan to prevent that tomorrow [actually Wednesday]:
President Barack Obama will unveil a plan to stem home foreclosures on Wednesday, a spokesman said, and major U.S. lenders said they had stopped foreclosing until details of the program have been firmed up.
The Obama administration is still hammering out its plan, but is considering helping borrowers that are not yet behind on their mortgages, sources told Reuters on Thursday. Current programs focus on borrowers that are already delinquent.
Reuters, Obama to unveil foreclosure plan
It sounds like it will be directed at people at risk of falling behind, but who are not behind yet.
Mr. Axelrod provided few details of the housing plan, but said a government investment of $50 billion to $100 billion to fund foreclosure prevention "is obviously a necessary part." He promised that the plan would contain "a lot of aspects."
In a later appearance on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press," he cited a letter Mr. Obama recently read from an Arizona homeowner as an illustration of the problem. "He showed me a letter the other day that was just heart wrenching from a woman in Arizona whose husband lost his job," Mr. Axelrod said. "He now has a job that's one-third the pay and they're really struggling to make their payments and meet their responsibilities. And she was emblematic of people all over this country."
One likely element of the plan would reduce Americans' payments on troubled mortgages, people familiar with the discussions said late last week, possibly through a cut in the interest rate, the costs of which would be shared by the government and mortgage servicers. Government officials would make the reduction available to people who are at risk of defaulting. A loan-modification program at government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac currently calls for holding monthly housing-related payments to 38% of pretax income. The new formula is likely to be as low as about 31%, according to some people.
WSJ: Axelrod: Obama Has 'Solid' Housing Plan
What's funny about this is that Cantor's opposition is purely symbolic. He does not even get a vote on this. I believe this is part of the TARP money:
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on February 10 had announced a plan to stabilize the financial system, which includes $50 billion of assistance to "prevent avoidable foreclosures" of middle-class homes occupied by their owners, according to a document Geithner released.
Yahoo.com: Obama to unveil foreclosure plan, big lenders wait
Senator Jeff Merkely and some other progressives supported giving the second amount of TARP money precisely because the President planned to use some for mortgage relief:
I believe that direct mortgage relief is essential to save millions of families from going down the tubes and is also essential to restore the economy.
So I spent the last several days arguing this case at the highest levels of the Obama team, meeting with and calling repeatedly Rahm Emanuel and Larry Summers, and talking once directly to our incoming President, as well as consulting with mortgage guru Professor Blinder and the Center for Responsible Lending. I asked for a strong multi-dimensional program to directly address families in troubled mortgages. Several other freshman senators, including Tom and Mark Udall, joined in this effort and made an impact on the administration’s outlook.
The Obama team heard us. Mostly. You saw an evolution from the FDIC $25 billion plan to the possibility of doing $40-50 billion to the final commitment in writing to a minimum of $50 billion and up to $100 billion.
Jeff Merkley: Why I Voted For TARP
Congressman Cantor is opposing any help for Americans. Why? Because he is a "fiscal conservative," worried about paying off debt when we are in a depression, or so he claims. Funny, though, in 2001 he voted to add almost a trillion dollars of debt. You remember, the Bush tax cuts. Almost every fiscally irresponsible tax cut that came around, he voted for:
Voted YES on Tax cut package of $958 B over 10 years.
Vote to pass a bill that would cut all income tax rates and make other tax cuts of $958.2 billion over 10 years. The bill would convert the five existing tax rate brackets, which range from 15 to 39.6 percent, to a system of four brackets with rates of 10 to 33 percent.
Reference: Bill sponsored by Thomas, R-CA; Bill HR 1836 ; vote number 2001-118 on May 16, 2001
snip
Voted YES on making the Bush tax cuts permanent.
Vote to pass a bill that would permanently extend the cuts in last year's $1.35 trillion tax reduction package, many of which are set to expire in 2010. It would extend relief of the marriage penalty, reductions in income tax rates, doubling of the child tax credit, elimination of the estate tax, and the expansion of pension and education provisions. The bill also would revise a variety of Internal Revenue Service tax provisions, including interest, and penalty collection provisions. The penalties would change for the failure to pay estimated taxes; waive minor, first-time error penalties; exclude interest on unintentional overpayments from taxable income; and allow the IRS greater discretion in the disciplining of employees who have violated policies.
Reference: Bill sponsored by Lewis, R-KY; Bill HR 586 ; vote number 2002-103 on Apr 18, 2002
snip
Voted YES on retaining reduced taxes on capital gains & dividends.
Vote to reduce federal spending by $56.1 billion over five years by retaining a reduced tax rate on capital gains and dividends.
snip
Voted YES on eliminating the Estate Tax ("death tax").
Vote to pass a bill that would gradually reduce revenue by $185.5 billion over 10 years with a repeal of the estate tax by 2011
On the Issues
Fiscal conservative, my ass. Cantor is a joke. Americans will remember what the Republicans did to this nation and how they tried to prevent any economic recovery. Cantor and Rush are the gravediggers of the Republican Party. Good riddance. The DLC Dems and the progressives eventually will create new parties. At least the DLC Dems are on the planet. The Republicans are lost in the ozone.