Alexis has two young children, a husband injured on the job and a mortgage payment her family’s reduced income no longer covers.

“We’re about $1,000 a month short and with the economy the way it’s going, we’re in trouble,” said the Martinez mother who asked that we use only her first name. “I’m hoping I can get our lender to work with us for about six months.’

Alexis was one of several hundred people who attended a day-long mortgage foreclosure prevention workshop today jointly sponsored by three members of Congress, U.S. Reps. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, George Miller, D-Martinez and Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton.

Area homeowners met with HUD-certified housing counselors, lenders and community resource organizations. They also heard from experts how to avoid scams and illegal loans, options to foreclosure, tax implications and bankruptcy.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE PACKET HANDED OUT AT THE WORKSHOP. IT INCLUDES RESOURCE PHONE NUMBERS AND INTERNET ADDRESSES, TIPS TO AVOID SCAMS AND MORE.

“You have taken a huge step by coming here today,” said Miller from the podium at the United Association Plumbers and Steamfitters union hall in Concord. “Forget the embarrassment. Many people are in trouble, many of them through no fault of their own. You must reach out to lenders and admit you have a problem. Don’t wait until it’s too late.”

The congressional triumvirate convened the foreclosure prevention forum to help stem the rising foreclosure tide sweeping across the nation and California.

The East Bay has been hit hard as people on the economic edge stretched into risky loans or borrowed on home equity that no longer exists.

As people lose their homes and banks dump the properties on the market at discounted prices, everyone’s home values decline, Tauscher said. That leads to even greater numbers of homeowners whose houses are no longer worth what they paid for them.

Tauscher and her two East Bay colleagues support legislation that would allow banks to voluntarily reduce loans up to 30 percent and negotiate new mortgages with homeowners. Similar versions of the bill passed in the House and the Senate and await the outcome of a conference committee.

To help restore faith in homeownership as an investment and reduce the number of foreclosed homes for sale, the legislation also includes a tax credit for nervous but qualified first-time homebuyers who need a push to persuade them to enter the fragile market.

Are you behind on your house payments? Don’t wait until it’s too late to save your home and your credit. Call and get help or look on-line for assistance:
– HUD housing counselors: 800-569-4287 or www.hud.gov/counseling
– Hope Now, industry alliance: 1-888-995-4673 or www.hopenow.com

A new federal report on the treatment of teen-agers in residential treatment programs says cases of abuse are not isolated, according to study commissioned by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman and Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez.

Miller will convene a committee hearing Wednesday to discuss the General Accounting Office’s findings and vote on legislation, calls for the creation of minimum federal standards for youth treatment facilities. As part of the study, federal investigators visited California, Florida, Maryland and Utah.

Read more for Miller’s press release on the report and the hearing.

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Federal home loan limit increases proposed by California Reps. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, and Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, have been included in a package of bills intended to help ease the mortgage crisis headed for deliberation in the House later this week.

Congress temporarily raised the maximum FHA loan guarantee cap to $729,750 earlier this year but it will revert to $362,790 unless lawmakers extend it. The lower limit is well below the cost of homes in the Bay Area.

Read more for the press release from McNerney’s office:
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Seven California members of the House of Representatives have jointly signed a statement with 22 of their colleagues in opposition to a campaign-fueled proposal to suspend the federal gas tax this summer, including Bay Area reps. George Miller of Martinez, (pictured on right) Barbara Lee of Oakland and Pete Stark of Fremont.

“American consumers and our economy need a real solution to the energy crisis, not an empty trick,” Miller said. ” You can run cars on a lot of different fuels, but snake oil isn’t one of them.”

Two U.S. Senators, presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain of Arizona and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton of New York, support the “tax holiday” as a way to help ease high gas prices.

Miller and other critics, including Democratic presidential challenger and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, call it a short-sighted step that will save the average motorist less than $30 and put a big dent in the federal highway account.

The idea has little support among Democrats in Congress but never underestimate the power of a symbolic gesture, particularly during a presidential campaign season.

Read on for the press release issued by Miller’s office:
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Actor and political activist Danny Glover greeted Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, tonight with a big bear hug as the old friends met in Pleasant Hill for the congressman’s annual birthday/political fund-raiser bash.

“If you’re doing a movie, you have to decide whether you really, really believe in it or if you are going to be pushing ‘S’ ‘H’ ‘I’ ‘T’ uphill,” Glover told the crowd of several hundred at the Pleasant Hill Recreation Center. “With George, I know I am not pushing you-know-what uphill.”

(We’re going to assume that Glover wasn’t talking about his lucrative “Lethal Weapon” movies, either.)

Glover graciously mingled with the guests and posed for pictures before delivering a passionate speech about Miller’s nearly 34-year career in Congress and the pair’s shared activism on issues such as ending apartheid, improving education, advancing civil rights and ending the Iraq War.

“Our public education system is all but collapsed here,” Glover said. “We need someone (like Miller) to talk about making quality education a civil rights issue.”

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The Association for Commuter Transportation has named Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, as its its 2008 “Legislator of the Year.”

The Washington, D.C.-based transportation advocacy organization said Tauscher has supported legislative initiatives that help commuters escape the high price of gasoline, including a law that would make it easier for local communities to use federal resources to start and expand vanpool programs.

They also say Tauscher championed legislation that would increase the cap on the monthly transit benefits and help transit riders with the most expensive trips eligible to utilize the transportation fringe benefit offered by local transit agencies in accordance with federal tax laws.

“It’ an honor to receive this award and to be recognized on behalf of the commuters both in my district and across the country,” Tauscher said in a prepared release. “Commuting isn’t just about getting to and from work; it’s about how much time you spend with your family instead of on the roads, how much money you can save versus the cost of daily travel, and how much our daily routines are affecting the air quality of our communities. Good commuter policy is about finding safe, cost effective, and environmentally sound options for all types of commuters and I am committed to developing these strategies to make everyone’s life a little easier.”

Tauscher’s “commitment to expanding options for her constituent’s and her dedication to improving the nation’s transportation system should be recognized” said ACT President Jon Martz. “The price of getting to and from work is making it tough for many Americans to make ends meet. One way Congress can provide immediate assistance is by promoting alternative transportation options such as carpooling, vanpooling, telework, and transit.”

Rep. George Miller doesn’t always have the nicest of things to say about President George W. Bush nor does the president often compliment the House Democratic leadership team’s agenda.

But today during a wide ranging press conference at the White House, the president graciously gave the Martinez congressman credit for authoring a bill that will provide uninterrupted access to student loans.

Bush referred to Miller by name and voiced support for H.R. 5715, the “Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008.” It passed in the House on April 17 by a vote 383-27 and it’s expected to pass within a few days in the Senate. Bush has said he will sign it.

The unsettled credit market has made it more difficult for lenders in the federally guaranteed student loan program to obtain capital and some are scaling back. The new federal law makes it easier for students to borrow and allows federal officials to advance federal funds to lenders if needed.

Click here for details about the bill.

Veteran homeowners struggling under the weight of rising sub-prime mortgage payments could see a rise in the federally back refinance loan cap in legislation that passed out of a Congressional committee this week.

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, authored an amendment to the Helping Our Veterans Keep Their Homes Act of 2008 that would hike the existing $144,000 loan cap to $729,750.

The lower figure is virtually useless in Northern California, especially in the Bay Area where housing prices are among the highest in the nation.

“I’ve heard from reservists who have been deployed multiple times, saw a big loss in pay and they get in trouble with their home loans,” McNerney said.

The underlying bill revamps the Veterans Administration Home Loan Guaranty Service, which provides home loans to military personnel. The bill passed out of a subcommittee on Veterans Affairs on Wednesday and is headed to the full committee.

McNerney said he sought in his amendment to include veterans who already own homes but have fallen victim to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. It would allow them to refinance with VA-backed loans at more affordable interest rates.

“We have heard complaints about the low, $144,00 figure in the past, but now, it’s a crisis,” McNerney said. “We had bipartisan support for the legislation in the sub-committee and I can’t imagine why anyone would oppose it.”

Click here to read McNerney’s press release.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee unveiled today its first frontal assault on presumed GOP Congressional District 11 nominee Dean Andal, the man (pictured on the right) expected to challenge incumbent Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, in the November general election.

Not surprisingly, the site, www.RadicalAndal.org, paints Andal as an uber-conservative.

The Republican equivalent organization, the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, has had its site up for months targeting McNerney. (Pictured on bottom right.)
Its site, www.votemcnerneyout.com, calls McNerney a leftwinger who votes lockstep with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (It’s part of a slate of similar sites targeting freshmen Democrats elected in the 2006 wave.)

Read more for the DCCC’s press release today:

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Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, (pictured on top right) outpaced his presumptive GOP challenger Dean Andal of Stockton (pictured on bottom right) in first-quarter fundraising figures, according to Federal Election Commission campaign finance documents filed Tuesday.

(Check out Politico.com’s story about lagging GOP fundraising elsehwhere.)

McNerney raised $325,880 from Jan. 1 through March 31 compared to $90,313 for Andal in the same period.

McNerney reported $1.15 million cash on hand while Andal had $531,817.

Keep in mind, it’s still very early. Neither candidate has a primary challenger in June, which likely means they will spend the next few months raising money in preparation for the major Nov. 4 general election battle.

But both candidates need to make a strong showing in the finance department in order to attract those dollars in the fall from their respective parties and groups that seek to influence the outcome. In 2006, environmental organizations poured tens of thousands of dollars into the race and helped McNerney beat seven-term incumbent Richard Pombo.

Click here to reach the FEC search page, where you can enter the candidates’ names and view the reports.