The cost of everything — from providing health care for our families to filling our cars with gas to sending our children to college — has risen as sharply as the slopes of the Rocky Mountains out of our nation’s Great Plains.
At the same time, the plunge in our home values has been as steep and treacherous as the runs at some of our best ski resorts.
That decline is at the center of the housing crisis that threatens millions of Americans. And it is why Senate Democrats are determined to turn around this slump — and not a moment too soon.
The victims of this mortgage meltdown are not just those duped by greedy lenders. They are also the hard workers lucky enough to have not lost their jobs in this downturn but whose incomes are shrinking and whose home values are plunging.
Democrats have a bold solution that would keep hundreds of thousands of struggling families in their homes. Our solution would help them refinance out of bad loans, and would allow cities to buy foreclosed properties so the homes do not remain vacant and drive down property values.
Our plan also would fund housing counselors to help those at risk of foreclosure avoid it in the future, help communities hit by foreclosure recover, and help businesses weather this storm so they can continue to invest and employ workers.
But last week, Republicans stood in the way of our efforts to help Americans at risk of losing their biggest investments. We will not give up. We will keep trying, because we can hardly afford a housing crisis that pulls us further under.
The states we represent both rank among the top 10 hit hardest by foreclosures. The Denver and Las Vegas metropolitan areas also earn that disastrous distinction, taking two of the top nine spots. Colorado’s foreclosures went up 30 percent in 2006 after jumping 140 percent the year before, and Nevada has the highest rate of foreclosed homes in the country.
Not since the Great Depression have this many Americans owed more on their mortgages than their homes were worth. But the president still has vowed to veto our housing plan, even though his own falls far short. Perhaps he thinks we should wait until this crisis gets worse before doing something about it.
Democrats know that this problem won’t fix itself, and we cannot just expect things to get better without acting. “Wait and see” is not a responsible strategy for an economy hurtling toward recession.
Every day of inaction is another day homeowners, communities and our economy suffer. It is another day hard-working Americans wonder if they will be able to wake up from this nightmare and once again realize the American Dream.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a Democrat from Nevada. Sen. Ken Salazar is a Democrat from Colorado.
