White House threatens vetoes for two more GOP efforts to end housing programs

The Obama administration has threatened to veto two more Republican attempts to shutter its housing relief programs.

The White House released a pair of veto threats Tuesday, as it promised to block House Republican attempts to eliminate several of its housing programs. It came one week after the administration issued two similar threats for another pair of bills that would eliminate similar programs.

House Republicans have set their sights on four of the administration's programs, calling them wasteful and costly. The two bills the House approved last week to end two programs came from votes along strict party lines.

Of the programs on the House's chopping block this week is the administration's major housing relief program, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which is designed to help struggling homeowners modify pricey mortgages.

In a statement from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the White House defended HAMP as vital to the nation's economic recovery.

"The administration is committed to helping struggling American homeowners stay in their homes, and has taken many steps over the last two year to stabilize what was a rapidly-declining housing market," the administration said.

Originally designed to help 3 to 4 million homeowners, HAMP has thus far failed to meet expectations, modifying roughly 600,000 mortgages.

In a similar OMB statement, the White House threatened to block Republican attempts to kill the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which allows the administration to distribute funds to neighborhoods to redevelop foreclosed and abandoned properties.

The House is set to take up both bills later this week, after passing the first pair of program-ending bills on Thursday and Friday last week.

One of those bills would end an emergency mortgage relief program that allows the government to make mortgage payments for homeowners facing foreclosure, and the second would eliminate a mortgage refinancing program administered by the Federal Housing Administration.

All four bills are unlikely to be passed by the Senate, where Democrats retain the majority.