House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank today made the following statement after President Barack Obama announced the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan:

 “President Barack Obama recently signed an important economic recovery bill to create jobs and help the country recover from the worst recession in recent history.  I am very pleased that today he took another major step toward economic recovery by addressing the single biggest cause of our economic problems: the foreclosure crisis.  This is precisely the decisive action we need, and the President is using the exact same authority Congress gave the Bush administration in the TARP legislation and the housing bill passed last summer to deal with the foreclosure crisis.  The President, Secretary Geithner, Sheila Bair and the President’s economic team should be praised for taking aggressive steps designed to help keep qualified individuals and families in their homes, stabilize neighborhoods and create a real path toward economic recovery. 

 “The House Financial Services Committee recently passed legislation to enhance the President’s plan by making improvements to the Hope for Homeowners program.  We stand ready to work expeditiously with the Obama Administration, the Senate, and our House colleagues to enact these important changes and provide any additional tools to help keep qualified borrowers in their homes, to help state and local governments deal with foreclosures and to rebuild our economy.”