New Haven Independent

They were asked about the foreclosure crisis during breaks in a “transportation summit” the two attended in New Haven Monday at the Belvedere Conference Center. Click on the play arrow to watch they had to say.

Some people who never could afford a home in the first place wouldn’t benefit from government bailout of predatory loans, Shays suggested. But he said lots of people could stay in their homes, and the feds should help them.

Courtney agreed, supporting a Democratic bill that goes further than the Bush administration has suggested in bailing out homeowners facing foreclosure. He discounted the administration’s concern about the dangers of excessive meddling with private markets; he called that a “double standard” given the Federal Reserve Bank’s role in bailing out Bear Stearns. Shays said the competing concerns — homeowners’ fate versus overreaching government action — need to be kept in “balance.” Courtney emphasized the need to avoid bailing out wealthier owners of vacation homes.