McCain outlines plan to ease U.S. housing crisis

By Jeff Mason

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain outlined plans on Thursday to ease the burden on struggling American homeowners, drawing fire from Democratic rivals who accused him of a half-hearted effort.

McCain, an Arizona senator who has clinched his party's presidential nomination for the November election, proposed a system that would allow homeowners with a high-interest, adjustable rate mortgage loan taken after 2005 to trade for a safer, 30-year loan.

"It offers every deserving American family or homeowner the opportunity to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects the market value of their home," McCain said in a speech on the economy in Brooklyn.

"My plan follows the sound economic principle that when markets decline dramatically, debts must be restructured."

His campaign estimated the cost of McCain's plan at $3 billion to $10 billion.

Political pressure is building for a dramatic government intervention to prop up a housing market that has pushed the U.S. economy to the brink of recession, if not into one, threatening global growth.

McCain rejected criticism from Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton over what they called his soft approach to the U.S. economy.

"I know the economy better than Senator Clinton and Senator Obama do," McCain told ABC's "The View," citing his years in the U.S. Congress.