WASHINGTON (AFP)--President Barack Obama heads west Tuesday to
sign his huge stimulus bill with a flourish meant to be a rare
bright moment for the U.S. economy, and to confront a punishing
wave of home foreclosures.
After less than a day back in Washington following a weekend
home in Chicago, Obama will head to the Rocky Mountain state of
Colorado, then set course for Arizona to mine a new seam of
heartland support for his economic rescue plans.
The president will sign the $787 billion stimulus bill, which
passed Congress last week, in Denver, Colorado, the city where he
raised the hopes of millions when accepting the Democratic
nomination last year.
He will do so after touring a solar panel installation project
in an event designed to show how billions of dollars in funding for
alternative energy including in the stimulus package could launch a
new generation economy.
Later, Obama will set course on Air Force One, to the desert
state of Arizona, home to his defeated Republican election rival
John McCain, where he will Wednesday unveil a plan to tackle the
mortgage foreclosure crisis.
Obama will unveil his initiative after two U.S. banks - JPMorgan
Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C) - and mortgage finance giants Fannie
Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) agreed last week to suspend home
foreclosures.
Along with moratoriums, other possible ideas being floated would
help homeowners write down annual mortgage repayments to about
one-third of their salary.
The idea is to help homeowners before they get in trouble and
avoid thousands of foreclosures which are hammering the already
debt-laden balance sheets of the finance industry and further
rocking the economy.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week unveiled a plan
that could use as much as $2.5 trillion to aid banks, unfreeze
consumer credit markets and stem the home mortgage crisis.
But with nearly 10,000 families a day reportedly losing their
homes, only a sketchy public-private investment fund was cited
under Geithner's plan to buy up mortgage-backed securities held by
banks.
The White House, fresh from a bruising battle to drive the
stimulus plan through Congress last week, is scheduling Obama's
trips in a bid to show he is far more in tune with hopes of
Americans than warring Washington politicians.
Last week, Obama built backing behind his stimulus plan by
appealing to the same voters in Illinois, Indiana and Florida who
underwrote his massive election win in November.
The move also appeared to be an attempt to counter a political
head of steam built up inside Washington's echo chamber politics by
Republicans who refused Obama's olive branch and largely rejected
the stimulus plan.
The White House is signaling that it will continue to use such a
strategy as he seeks to implement the stimulus bill, looks to
rescue the dormant housing market and pursues other policy
priorities.
"It's always important to remember that the chatter in this town
is not the chatter around kitchen tables in this country," senior
Obama aide David Axelrod said on NBC show "Meet the Press" on
Sunday.
As long as we listen to kitchen table chatter, I think we're
going to stay on a truer course," Axelrod said.
Obama will also Tuesday learn more about another crisis wracking
his administration - the fate of the devastated "Big Three" auto
firms.
General Motors (GM) and Chrysler must report to the Treasury on
Tuesday on their restructuring plans, a condition of a $17.4
billion auto industry bailout funded by taxpayers.
On Monday, the administration confirmed that it would not
appoint a single "car czar" to oversee the restructuring, but would
instead form a presidential task force to steer restructuring of
the crippled industry.
The White House said the multi-agency operation would report to
Geithner and top presidential economic aide Lawrence Summers,
confirming that no single "car czar" would shepherd the ailing
industry.
After returning from Arizona, Obama will on Thursday make his
first trip abroad as president, to Canada, a one-day trip which
will include talks in Ottawa with Prime Minister Stephen
Harper.