By Jessica Holzer
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said Democrats would only relinquish an additional $350 billion in financial rescue funds if Treasury agrees to apply a portion of them to stem home mortgage foreclosures.
"At the very least, [Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson] would have to agree that that money would be used for foreclosure relief," Frank told reporters after delivering a speech at a Consumer Federation of America conference.
The Treasury has so far burned through $330 billion of its $700 billion financial rescue authority. To tap the remaining $350 billion, Paulson must receive approval from Congress, where dissatisfaction over the implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, is running high.
Frank said Democrats would seek an amendment requiring some portion of the funds to be used for foreclosure relief. During his remarks to the trade group, Frank said, "There's absolutely no reason they are not using the TARP funds for this."
He also praised Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair pushing the use of TARP funds for foreclosure prevention. Bair has a plan to modify loans for as many as two million homeowners, using $24 billion worth of federal guarantees. The plan has run into opposition from the White House.
"Sheila Bair has annoyed the old boy's club," said Frank, adding that she has "really been very good."
-By Jessica Holzer, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9228; jessica.holzer@dowjones.com
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=G8rN%2BJs%2FXaaSgxy4%2FPCYtg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 04, 2008 15:30 ET (20:30 GMT)

Publié le 04 Décembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones