Government

President Barack Obama has announced the nomination of three senior advisers for key positions within the U.S. Treasury Department. Hand-picked for assistant secretary positions are David Cohen, to lead the administration’s fight against terrorist financing; Alan Krueger, to steer economic policy; and Kim Wallace, to oversee legislative affairs.

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward D. Rendell announced on Monday an emergency executive action= intended to provide immediate relief to struggling homeowners in the state. The governor is directing $5 million in state funding to be used for mortgage assistance to ensure that recently unemployed workers can keep their homes while they are retraining and finding new jobs, the governor’s office said in a press statement.

On May 1st, the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) takes effect, mandating that all new loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac comply with strict rules established to mitigate the risk assumed by the two GSEs.

McLean, Virgina-based mortgage giant Freddie Mac has hired a team of lawyers to investigate the company’s own lobbying efforts. Under scrutiny is a campaign that tallied $2 billion, and according to an Associated Press:http://www.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation on Thursday that will allow bankruptcy judges to reduce the principal amount of mortgage loans. The proposed law has received stiff opposition from the banking and mortgage industries, but the Obama administration and Democratic lawmakers have been unrelenting in pushing the so-called cramdown legislation through Congress.

The national unemployment rate rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest the stat has reached in a quarter century. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that 651,000 workers lost their jobs last month.

According to a report issued Wednesday by two nonprofit organizations, the financial sector invested more than $5 billion in political influence over the past decade, with as many as 3,000 lobbyists winning deregulation and other policy decisions that led directly to the current financial collapse.

On Thursday, Freddie Mac announced the official launch of its new REO Rental Initiative, giving qualified tenants and former owners the option to lease their recently foreclosed properties on a month-to-month basis.

The Treasury Department released guidelines on Wednesday that will enable servicers to begin modifications of eligible mortgages under the administration’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan – announced by President Barack Obama just two weeks ago.

As part of the administration’s Financial Stability Plan, on Tuesday, the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board announced the launch of the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF).