Mich. Senators defend stimulus plan

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - President Obama's plan to bail out homeowners who are having trouble paying for their houses will make $75 billion available across the country but the question of who will get the money and when is still not clear.

24 Hour News Eight Political Reporter Rick Albin talked to both of Michigan's United States Senators

"There's nothing that comes close to the situation we're in," said U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D) Michigan. "The hopes that this is going to do something significant to slow down this decline and to begin to reverse it."

Not everybody is happy about the fix that Washington has come up with but Thursday both Levin and Stabenow defended the plan.

"Nothing is not acceptable. Standing by just defending the stats quo is not acceptable," Sen. Levin said. "Some of the alternatives which the Republicans were proposing had to do with reducing taxes focusing on that. But also focusing on reducing brackets for the upper bracket folks and hoping some of that would filter down in terms of job creation."

"It's going to take time to decipher all this on the housing front," said U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) Michigan. "But we do know that [the stimulus plan] is geared toward people that are trying to stay in their home--maybe behind in payments but not so far behind that there's no way to catch up."

Michigan's junior United States senator joined Rick Albin in studio Thursday and he asked her about the details of the plan and who it will help.

"We're talking about people who are a bit behind or could be behind in their payments," U.S. Sen. Stabenow said. "It would be the treasury coming in and backing up these loans to help lower interest rates, to help lower some principals so people can stay in their homes."

Sen. Stabenow also said it will help communities stabilize. "When a home is foreclosed, the whole neighborhood is affected."

She also commented on the recently passed stimulus plan and has some interesting things to say to those who complain that the plan is either too big, too small or includes things that shouldn't be there. You can hear her comments Thursday afternoon on 24 Hour News 8.

For the full conversation between Rick Albin and both Senator Stabenow and Senator Carl Levin check out Sunday Morning's To The Point at 10 o'clock. Both will sit down to talk about what's next for our struggling economy.
 

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