Dodd demands answers to mortgage ‘crisis’

Ahead of his meeting Tuesday with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said Americans need to be reassured that the government is working to ensure they will not lose their homes.

Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, called for the meeting to discuss the recent problems in the mortgage market and their consequences.

{mosads}“The American dream is at stake, and that demands leadership now,” Dodd said in announcing the meeting. He also criticized President Bush for “sitting by idly — while millions of Americans face foreclosure on their homes — instead of offering the leadership and ideas that this country and our economy need.”

Dodd, on MSNBC, called the lending industry’s problems a “pretty big crisis,” and added, “We don’t know how big or how long lasting [it will be], but obviously everyone’s worried about it.”

Dodd, who is running for president, could use any steps he takes as committee chairman to show his leadership skills on the campaign trail, especially on an issue that has many Americans worried.

“There are an awful lot of people in this country, not because they lost their job, not because the economy is a mess, but because of their mortgage rates they’re paying, could lose their homes,” Dodd said. “And that’s a major, major issue.”

The Banking Committee chairman also said he would advocate helping the middle class even if that means a windfall to “some bad guys on the top of the food chain,” as MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough put it.