(CNSNews.com) - House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D.-Mass.) said Sunday he does not think the $50 billion in tax dollars the Obama administration intends to use to help people pay their mortgages will be enough.
 
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last Tuesday announced the general outline of President Obama’s plan to continue the government’s bailout of the financial industry, which was begun under President Bush when Congress approved $700 billion for the “Troubled Asset Relief Program.” The outline included using $50 billion in tax dollars to help people pay their mortgages.
 
A Treasury Department “Fact Sheet” outlining the proposal said the administration plans to: “Commit $50 billion to prevent avoidable foreclosures of owner-occupied middle class homes by helping to reduce monthly payments in line with prudent underwriting and long-term loan performance.”

President Obama is scheduled to reveal the details of this plan in a speech in Phoenix, Ariz., on Wednesday. But yesterday, appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Rep. Frank said he did not think $50 billion would be enough.

“[Y]ou've mentioned the $50 billion that Mr. Geithner is talking about for foreclosure relief,” host Bob Schieffer asked Frank. “… Is that going to be enough or will more money be needed to—“

“I don't think it will be enough,” said Frank. “But in fairness to Mr. Geithner, we won't know that for a while. I believe that he will be--he's got a good set of plans coming forward to begin to reduce foreclosures. And by the way, we reduce foreclosures, not just to be charitable to individuals, but because the massive number of foreclosures is a major macroeconomic problem. It hurts the whole economy.

"And so what I hope is this," said Frank. "We will begin, if in fact, by the time we've used $50 billion, it turns out we can use more, then I believe the Congress would be responsive. But first they're going to have to demonstrate the will, which they have demonstrated, and the capacity to use it effectively.”

Meanwhile, on “Fox News Sunday” hosted by Chris Wallace, Obama adviser David Axelrod suggested the $50 billion mortgage bailout could double to $100 billion.

“Is the focus on reducing monthly payments, or is it going to be on getting the institutions to actually lower the principal that's owed on those mortgages? And is $50 billion nearly enough to deal with this program?” asked Wallace.

“Well, I'm not going to deal with the details of the program, which will be announced Wednesday,” said Axelrod.

But when Wallace pushed on the issue, saying that $50 billion “seems like a drop in the bucket,” Axelrod said: “Well, there'll be a lot of aspects to this, to this program, so--but the $50 billion obviously--$50 to $100 billion that's been discussed to date, is obviously a necessary part of it.”