Jack Reed: “Today, Mr. President, the Bush administration announced a proposal to help stem the burgeoning crisis in foreclosures…”

“Today, Mr. President, the Bush administration announced a proposal to help stem the burgeoning crisis in foreclosures across this country. It is a welcome step, but it is a very timid step. It is one that is long overdue, in my estimation. This crisis has been evolving over many months, and the White House and the Treasury have taken a very long time to get to this moment and to propose this plan. And it is cautious plan, and only a partial approach to a very complicated and very dangerous problem. The problem is dangerous in the sense that millions of American homeowners are facing the peril of losing their homes to foreclosure because of the exotic mortgages that were sold to them with low introductory rates and now are being triggered to reset to relatively high rates, forcing many people to make the choice between giving up their home or giving up everything else to pay for their mortgage. That is the human aspect. And we are seeing it in our home State of Rhode Island, Mr. President, a record number of foreclosures, page after page in the newspaper of homes that are going to be foreclosed upon.”