Schumer To Speak On Subprime Crisis

WASHINGTON — Senator Schumer will deliver what his staff is billing as a major speech on the subprime mortgage crisis and a "possible recession" today at the Brookings Institution in Washington. The speech is titled in part, "A Call to Action," and Mr. Schumer will discuss "the shortcomings of the Bush administration's recent measures to address the subprime mortgage crisis" and "the myths that have propelled this crisis," according to a statement from his office. He will also propose steps for the federal government to stake to protect homeowners from foreclosure and to guard against a recession. Mr. Schumer is the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate and the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee. He has long called for the Bush administration to take a much more activist role than it has in responding to the fallout from widespread defaults on subprime mortgages.