The Treasury Department\'s plan to purchase hundreds of billions
of dollars of problem mortgage assets from financial institutions
should give the federal government the maximum leverage to
restructure bad loans and prevent foreclosures, according to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass.

We are intent on writing a bill that gives us the power to do the adjustments, Rep. Frank said at a foreclosure conference sponsored
by AARP. He noted that the government now controls Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac and said he wants the mortgage giants to coordinate their
loan restructuring efforts with a new Resolution Trust Corp.-like
entity the Treasury is proposing.

We should now be able to substantially reduce foreclosures, he said. House and Senate banking committee leaders will work with Treasury officials over the weekend to craft legislation to form a mortgage RTC. Chairman Frank\'s committee plans to hold a hearing on the bill Wednesday.