President Bush dials up wrong number
BY RICHARD SISK and HELEN KENNEDY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Saturday, March 29th 2008, 4:00 AM

President Bush went to New Jersey Friday to assure Americans with mortgage troubles that he feels their pain - but Democrats said it was past time for him to take more concrete action.
In Freehold to visit Novadebt, which provides free credit advice for cash-strapped homeowners, Bush touted federal counseling plans.

"We have got a issue in housing in America ... and that has caused consternation and concern and care," Bush said.

"I am here to tell my fellow citizens: If they are worried about their homes, to call the following number."

He then gave out the wrong number. Twice. The President later returned to the microphone to say the right digits: (888)995-HOPE.

Democrats have been urging Bush to do more to curb the national wave of home foreclosures that is spooking investors and fueling fears of a wider economic downturn.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) mocked Bush's Garden State visit as "sort of like 'Mission Accomplished' redux," a snide reference to Bush's hollow victory speech on an aircraft carrier right after the Iraq invasion.

"At the center of this crisis is housing - that's at the bull's-eye - and yet still the administration refuses to step up to the plate and do what's needed," he said.

Schumer and other congressional Democrats are pushing a plan to let bankruptcy judges reduce interest payments for homeowners who are losing their houses. The bill also would allow communities with the highest foreclosure rates access to federal grants to buy foreclosed properties.

Democrats are seeking up to $4 billion in funding to buy vacated properties.
Republicans say the plan is too sweeping and would ultimately raise interest rates.
More than 2 million Americans are in some kind of mortgage trouble, many of them in New York.

Parts of Brooklyn are the worst hit in the country: As many as 25% of homeowners with unconventional subprime mortgages in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights are in the process of losing their homes.

The national average is 6.8%.

Meanwhile, in Washington, a Bush aide resigned over allegations that he misused federal money intended to promote democracy in Cuba.

Felipe Sixto, a special assistant to the President on intergovernmental affairs, is being investigated by the Justice Department, the White House said.