Obama Endorsement Builds Momentum for Housing-Finance Overhaul
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President Barack Obama broke almost five years of silence on post-crisis plans for housing finance by endorsing an approach that would scale back the government’s role to covering mortgage losses only during a catastrophe.
By biding his time, Obama allowed a bipartisan consensus to form around the idea. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, housing advocacy groups and industry participants including bankers and Realtors have embraced that model, a middle ground in the debate over just how much of the risk of a housing downturn should be borne by taxpayers.