LAS VEGAS (AP) _ President Barack Obama offered mortgage relief on Monday to hundreds of thousands of Americans, his latest attempt to ease the economic and political fallout of a housing crisis that has bedeviled him as he seeks a second term.
Under Obama's proposal, homeowners who are still current on their mortgages would be able to refinance no matter how much their home value has dropped below what they still owe.
Making a case for his policies in Las Vegas, the epicenter of foreclosures and joblessness, Obama's new effort also allows him to act without congressional approval from Republicans, who control the House of Representatives and have blocked his biggest economic initiatives.
It also allows him to shift blame to Republicans for lack of action to boost employment and stimulate an economic recovery.
``I'm here to say that we can't wait for an increasingly dysfunctional Congress to do its job,'' the president declared outside a family home. ``Where they won't act, I will.''
Obama's proposal seeks to address what's seen as one of the biggest drags on the US economy: the number of Americans who can't refinance or sell their homes because they owe more than what their home is worth.
Nevada has been one of the states hardest hit by foreclosures and the recession and as a swing state that could go either to Obama or his Republican rival. It's one of several Western states that could be the key to victory in the upcoming presidential election that is essentially a series of state-by-state winner-takes-all contests.
Nevada also has a large Hispanic community, the fastest growing minority in the U.S., and both parties are vying for its support.
A recent poll has found that while about half of all Americans have said Obama doesn't deserve to be re-elected, none of his Republican challengers would be able to beat him yet in a hypothetical head-to-head race. The strongest contender, former-Massachusetts Gov. Mitch Romney, comes close but his nomination is far from assured because questions about his conservative credentials have left him vulnerable in the Republican primaries to challengers further to the right.
Later in the week, Obama plans to announce measures to make it easier for college graduates to pay back federal loans. Such executive action allows Obama to address economic ills and other domestic challenges in spite of Republican opposition to most of his proposals.
While Obama has proposed prodding the economy with payroll tax cuts and increased spending on public works and aid to states, he has yet to offer a wholesale overhaul of the nation's housing programs. Economists point to the burst housing bubble as the main culprit behind the 2008 financial crisis.
While the White House tried to avoid predicting how many homeowners would benefit from the revamped refinancing program, the Federal Housing Finance Administration estimated an additional 1 million people would qualify. Moody's Analytics say the figure could be as high as 1.6 million.
Presidential spokesman Jay Carney criticized Romney for proposing last week while in Las Vegas that the government not interfere with foreclosures. ``Don't try to stop the foreclosure process,'' Romney told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. ``Let it run its course and hit the bottom.''
``That is not a solution,'' Carney told reporters on Air Force One. He said Romney would tell homeowners, ```You're on your own, tough luck.'''
The Nevada stop was the first leg of a three-day tour of Western U.S. states, blending his pitch for boosting the economy with an aggressive hunt for campaign cash.
From Nevada, Obama headed for the glamor of Hollywood and the homes of movie stars Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas and producer James Lassiter for some high-dollar campaign fundraising. On Tuesday, he will tape an appearance on ``The Tonight Show'' with Jay Leno. He will also raise money in San Francisco and in Denver.
