GOP presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is coming under fire from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid after Romney told a Las Vegas newspaper on Tuesday that Congress should allow banks to continue foreclosing on property owners and allowing the housing crisis to “run its course.”
The comments by Romney, who is leading in polls for the GOP nod in Nevada, prompted a sharp response from Democratic leaders in a state hard-hit by the housing crisis.
“Nevada has the highest foreclosure rate in America, and it has for almost three years,” Reid said in a statement put out by Nevada’s state Democratic Party. “And here’s what Mitt Romney said. He would just let them hit rock bottom. I don’t know what’s more graphic than that in how we have different views of what the world should be like than our Republican friends.”
Reid also said the former Massachusetts governor should apologize to “the thousands of Nevada families struggling to keep a roof over their heads.”
“With the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, Nevadans can’t afford someone in the White House whose response to this crisis is ‘tough luck,’ ” Reid continued in the statement.
Romney’s controversial comments came in an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal on Tuesday.
“As to what to do for the housing industry specifically — and are there things that you can do to encourage housing? One is, don’t try and stop the foreclosure process,” said Mr. Romney when asked his stance. “Let it run its course, and hit the bottom, allow investors to buy up homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up.
“The Obama administration has slow-walked the foreclosure process that long existed, and as a result we still have a foreclosure overhang.”
The comment comes as the Republican presidential candidate has increased his presence within the state of Nevada, which continues to maintain one of the nation’s highest rates of foreclosure. Approximately two-thirds of homeowners in the state are “underwater,” meaning they owe more than their home is worth.
