New Bedford Residents Come to Washington Seeking Relief through Prayer, Meetings
RELIEF
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Courtney Hime
Boston University Washington News Service
November 18, 2008
WASHINGTON – Chants of “Wake up, Secretary Paulson” filled Pennsylvania Avenue Tuesday morning as three New Bedford residents – and 200 others – prayed outside of the U.S. Treasury Building.
The Rev. Donald Mier, Anibal Cruz and Daniel Lesser of United Interfaith Action met other members of faith-based community organizations to pray and persuade lawmakers to vote for home foreclosure relief.
Mr. Lesser, organizer for United Interfaith Action, said foreclosures were “racking New Bedford.”
“We see the abandoned houses everywhere,” he said.
In New Bedford this year there have been 302 foreclosures on buildings, compared to 196 this time last year, said Greg Enos, neighborhood planner for the city’s Office of Housing and Community Development.
The purpose of the demonstration was to persuade lawmakers to use money from the federal bailout program to modify 1.5 million mortgages in order to prevent foreclosures.
The plan, proposed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), would cost roughly $24 billion and would encourage banks to rework loans and provide a federal guarantee for the losses on the modified mortgages.
Mr. Lesser said that United Interfaith Action believes the FDIC plan would be a good model for foreclosure relief. He cited the IndyMac Bank in California, where the FDIC enacted a similar plan, as an example of relief that worked.
“To keep people in their homes, to stop preventable foreclosures – it’s a moral duty to take this program nationally,” he said.
Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, however, opposes using funds to buy up bad mortgages.
Lewis Finfer, director of Massachusetts Communities Action Network, came to Washington with the New Bedford residents and attended a Tuesday morning hearing of the House Financial Services Committee before going to the demonstration at the Treasury building. Rep. Barney Frank, the committee chairman, and Secretary Paulson seemed to be in a stalemate in the hearing over how to use the funds, Mr. Finfer said.
“The Secretary of the Treasury is balking at [the plan] even though he has $400 billion left that he could spend,” he said. “That’s why we’re here, to push the Treasury. So we’re hoping they’ll move.”
After the group prayer outside the Treasury Building, the New Bedford residents and a few others from Massachusetts met with Rep. Frank to discuss what he was planning to do about foreclosures.
Mr. Finfer said the meeting renewed his hope that some sort of loan modification program could still be passed before the end of the year.
Rep. Frank said he was still hopeful that Secretary Paulson might agree to a large-scale loan modification program in the next three weeks.
“He is starting to move,” Rep Frank said. “I think we have gotten his attention that this has to change.”
Mr. Finfer said Rep. Frank’s comments were encouraging.
“That seems significant that he felt that that wasn’t a closed issue and that it was moving possibly in the right direction,” he said.
The meeting was also a chance for Mr. Finfer and the United Interfaith Action to ask what they could do to help Rep. Frank with foreclosure relief.
Rep. Frank said he told the New Bedford residents to take advantage of a later scheduled meeting with John Podesta, co-chairman of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. He said he “urged them to urge the president-elect to join us” in supporting the efforts to use federal bailout money for foreclosure prevention.
“It was a really important day to be here at this juncture when such a major issue is hanging in the balance,” Mr.Finfer said.
Mr,.Cruz said that even though United Interfaith Action came to Washington with a local perspective, he thought it was important to remember foreclosure was a national issue.
“We’re here in hope that our faith and our prayer will reach out to these people,” he said. “Because it’s not only affecting our community in New Bedford, it’s affecting everywhere in the country.”
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