Governors appeal to Obama for aid
Portland Business Journal
Governors from across the country — including Oregon's Ted Kulongoski — gathered in Philadelphia on Tuesday to appeal for federal assistance from President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden at a National Governors Association meeting.
Forty-eight of the nation’s governors were expected to attend the meeting, which was arranged by NGA Chair Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who made the case for federal assistance to address the foreclosure crisis, was among those who addressed Obama and Biden.
“We need a housing market recovery program that’s at scale that only the federal government can provide, otherwise toxic mortgages will poison the system indefinitely,” Corzine said.
Corzine called for federal regulation of lenders, mortgage brokers and banks because states have limited power to regulate them. He also asked the federal government to help restructure troubled mortgages.
“I know there is a pushback from lenders to actually lowering the value of mortgages,” Corzine said. “But, if we don’t find a bottom, if we don’t set a floor, if we don’t set a true value, the housing market will never be appropriately valued, and the financial system will be perpetually filled with overvalued instruments.”
NGA and the National Conference of State Legislatures has called on Congress to take action to help stabilize the nation’s economy through infrastructure investment, safety net programs to assist those in greatest need and funding to help prevent budget cuts that states will be forced to make due to shortfalls. Twenty states have already trimmed their fiscal 2009 budgets by $7.6 billion and 30 states have shortfalls totaling more than $30 billion, NGA reported. In addition, 25 states have identified budget shortfalls of $60 billion for fiscal year 2010.
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