Exchange News Direct - Rep Fossella To U.S. Treasury: Bold And Decisive Action Is Needed

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Exchange News Direct - Rep Fossella To U.S. Treasury: Bold And Decisive Action Is Needed

Congressman Vito Fossella (R-NY13) today wrote a letter to US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calling for bold and decisive action to help our economy recover. The Congressman applauded Paulson for working together with the other G7 leaders in formulating an agreement on principles to help the world economy recover from the current financial crisis. He also shared his support for the plan Paulson announced Friday where the government will soon begin to purchase equity stakes in US banks, thus injecting new liquidity into the markets.

At the same time Fossella warned that the time for rhetoric has passed and that our economy is in need of immediate action. He also offered some additional ideas that he feels Treasury should examine to help the economy recover. Among those ideas were to allow some struggling homeowners to renegotiate certain terms of their mortgages, for the US government to guarantee some short term bank to bank lending, and to examine whether it would be beneficial to allow banks to temporarily adjust their minimum reserve requirements to free up additional liquidity.

"….We also must be prepared to take other steps to get to the heart of financial crisis, the housing market. More must be done to help struggling homeowners. I believe that the Treasury should put in place a mechanism quickly to allow homeowners to renegotiate mortgage terms. Taking this dramatic step would help reduce foreclosures which are dragging down home prices across the nation…" Fossella wrote.

Home foreclosures and the contracted credit markets are the primary source of the current financial crisis, both here and abroad, and that is where the government should focus its efforts for recovery.

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