US President Barack Obama promised Saturday to help lower Americans' mortgage costs with a new plan, coming soon, that would revive the financial system and “get credit flowing again.” Obama, who has made fighting the country's economic and financial crises the top priority of his young administration, called on the U.S. Senate to approve an economic stimulus bill that the House of Representatives passed this week. But as economic conditions get worse the president said new strategies were coming to address the country's ills. “Soon my Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, will announce a new strategy for reviving our financial system that gets credit flowing to businesses and families,” Obama, a Democrat, said in his weekly radio address. “We'll help lower mortgage costs and extend loans to small businesses so they can create jobs.” Obama did not offer specifics about the new plan or say when it would be unveiled. His chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said on Friday that the White House would hold meetings next week about financial industry regulation. Republicans, who opposed the president's stimulus package of over $800 billion largely because of its spending priorities, suggested mortgage help as well, proposing government-backed 4 percent fixed-rate mortgages for “any credit-worthy borrower,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said. “The availability of these low-interest loans would increase demand for houses significantly and low-interest mortgages would boost household income,” McConnell said in a separate radio address. Obama said his plan would ensure corporate chief executives do not siphon away tax dollars to fund big bonuses, expressing outrage again at reports of big pay-outs in 2008 despite massive job cuts, financial losses and government bailouts.
