up that i want to read her proposal. gretchen says, if principle amounts on these first mortgages are reduced while leaving the second liens, which is the mortgages, the home equity lines and so forth, that those second liens become much more likely to be paid off over time with no principal reduction. the bank would have to write down these second liens. as such, these principal bailouts are more backup for banks that brought you the mortgage crisis in the first place. so why would he go with the more speculative position of the big banks? i respect gretchen a great deal, i just happen to disagree with her on this. the reality is that 60% of the mortgages that fannie and freddie own, not all of them have second liens behind them. first and foremost, we re going
martha ckl as we a my other colleagues, harris in california, le illinois, real leaders on these issues. what we re saying, fannie and freddie, now run by the faha, should begin to do and consider doing more fundamental production of homeowners mortgages. it s good for the economy, most importantly. it s not just good for the borrower, it s good for the neighbor of that bar rorroroweb it s better for the taxpayer. quite frankly, i m stunned they haven t pursued this in a more agressive fashion than they have thus far. it is a very compelling argument for the sort of relief that everybody has been so desperate to achieve. there s one point of conflict that gretchen mortenson brings
are demanding that taxpayer-funded fannie and freddie, our money at the government, do more to relieve struggling homeowners. they say they want some of the mortgage debt that we own of our own money that the government canceled. they say we ll help stabilize the housing market and help at-risk homeowners. remember, fannie and freddie own 60% of our mortgages. in turn, it means you and i and the taxpayers own our own debt, if that makes any sense. so the good news is we re actually negotiating a debt restructuring, theoretically, with ourselves. make no mistake, unless this housing debt is restructured, the housing market and the economy will never fully recover. delaware attorney general beau biden is one of 11 that has sent a letter to the federal finance housing agency. beau, what s your proposal? well, this is a letter led by