Mr Bush, in a statement scheduled for 11.10am (1510 GMT) in the White House Rose Garden, will discuss the need for Congress to pass Federal Housing Administration reform legislation aimed at giving the agency the flexibility to help sub-prime mortgage borrowersWASHINGTON - US President George W Bush will propose reforms on Friday intended to help homeowners with sub-prime mortgages avoid default, his first public step to address a crisis that has created turmoil in financial markets around the world.
'He will also discuss reform efforts to prevent these kinds of problems from arising in the future,' a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity.
Many analysts warn that a spreading credit crisis could drag the US economy into recession but the Bush administration has repeatedly said that US economic fundamentals are healthy and that global growth is robust.
The Federal Reserve has taken steps to increase liquidity in markets and faces calls for interest-rate cuts to head off a broader credit squeeze that could drag economic growth down.
Mr Bush, in a statement scheduled for 11.10am (1510 GMT) in the White House Rose Garden, will discuss the need for Congress to pass Federal Housing Administration reform legislation aimed at giving the agency the flexibility to help sub-prime mortgage borrowers, two administration officials said.
One move will be an administrative change to allow the Federal Housing Administration to guarantee loans for borrowers at least 90 days behind in mortgage payments to help them avoid foreclosure, the Wall Street Journal reported from a briefing given to a few newspapers.
Mr Bush will urge the Democratic-led Congress to work with him in a bipartisan way to reform the tax code to help troubled borrowers revise their loans, administration officials said.
He will ask Congress to temporarily suspend a tax provision that has left some troubled homeowners with large tax bills, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Mr Bush is also expected to direct Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson to work on an initiative to help troubled mortgage holders obtain services and products needed to prevent default, officials said. He will discuss the need for rigorous enforcement of predatory lending laws and strengthening lending practices, they said.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who has been criticised for being too slow to take sterner measures to stamp out the smoldering credit crisis, is scheduled to speak on Friday morning about housing and monetary policy shortly before Mr Bush's statement. -- REUTERS
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