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North Carolina provided the backdrop for Vice President Joe Biden and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to talk up federal economic stimulus money flowing through the USDA. That included $10.4 billion in home loan funds, $322.9 million of which was set aside for would-be homeowners in rural North Carolina.

What does the department that deals with food safety, crop price supports, farm loans and oversees federal child nutrition programs have to do with home loans?

“If the USDA were a bank, and you totaled up all of our loans, we would be the seventh-largest bank in America,” Vilsack said in a phone conversation between whistle-stops last week.

According to the USDA Web site, the Section 502 program helps people who have incomes around the median for their county and typically helps buy houses in small towns of 10,000 or fewer. Although the USDA’s 502 program provides direct loans and guarantees, Vilsack talked up mostly the loan guarantees last week.

But hold on a second: Providing home loans to people who wouldn’t normally afford them — and repackaging them as hard-to-understand securities — has been partly blamed for the financial crisis that necessitated the stimulus. How does giving more low-income home loans help?

“The default rate on these loans are relatively low,” Vilsack said. Something north of 95 percent are eventually repaid, he said.

And, he said, unlike sub-prime loans, the USDA-guaranteed loans are designed to minimize fees and keep interest rates low.

Vilsack said the Obama administration estimates providing all these home loans will save or create 42,500 jobs.

Asked how the government will ensure the money isn’t wasted — or spent financing some bank president’s golden parachute — Vilsack said the USDA was spending money through well-worn channels.

“One of the benefits at USDA is we’re using the existing, mature programs,” he said. “We’re using programs that have been around for a long time with criteria that are well known.”

For more information on Section 502 loans and loan guarantees in North Carolina, log onto www.rurdev.usda.gov/nc/sfhhousg.htm

Burr delays nomination

According to a report by McClatchy’s Washington bureau, Sen. Richard Burr is delaying a vote on Tammy Duckworth, an injured Iraq war veteran, to be assistant secretary of veterans affairs.

Duckworth, a National Guard major, lost both her legs in combat. She has been serving as chief of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.

The delay has prompted criticism from some veterans groups, including VoteVets.org.

“How dare Senator Burr needlessly delay the nomination of a war hero like Tammy Duckworth to perform critical duties at the Department of Veterans Affairs?” VoteVets Chairman Jon Soltz wrote in a statement on the Web site. “Tammy Duckworth isn’t only qualified to take office at Veterans Affairs, she is exactly what we need right now — an Iraq veteran with experience in the VA system.”

Burr, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate’s Veterans Affairs Committee, has told media outlets he’s waiting for Duckworth to answer some questions.

“He’s basically doing some due diligence, as he does for every nominee, to ensure veterans have the best representation,” a spokesman for Burr told McClatchy. No word on what exactly his questions are.

Recess

Congress is on recess for the next couple of weeks, so expect to see your friendly local politician skulking about the state until we ship them back to Washington on April 18. Among the appearances for the local honorables:

• Rep. Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican, will tour the new Randolph Hospital Cancer and Outpatient Center at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
• Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, will be working her way across the state, including visits to the VA Hospital in Salisbury and a tour of Appalachian State University. She’ll start her tour in the eastern part of the state including lunch today at Capt. Ratty’s Seafood.
• Rep. Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat who represents parts of High Point and Greensboro, is someone you probably won’t see around for the next few days. He’s part of a congressional delegation visiting Cuba this week. According to California Rep. Barbara Lee’s Web site, the purpose of the trip is to “discuss bilateral relations and review policies related to trade and commerce with Cuba, and discuss cultural, health and academic exchanges.”

Votes

Among the votes taken in Congress last week:

• The House passed HR 1256, a bill that would let the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco products, on a 298-112 vote. Reps. Brad Miller and Mel Watt, both Democrats, voted for the bill. Reps. Howard Coble and Virginia Foxx, both Republicans, voted against.
• The House passed H. Con. Res 85, a bill that establishes a five-year budget plan and that for 2010 projects $3.55 trillion in spending and a $1.2 trillion deficit. The measure includes President Obama’s major initiatives in areas such as health care and renewable energy. The vote was 233-196. Local votes broke along party lines with Democrats Miller and Watt voting for the bill and Republicans Coble and Foxx voting against.
• The Senate passed S. Con. Res 13, a companion measure to the House budget resolution that sets spending expectations for the federal budget over the next five years. Democrat Kay Hagan voted for the bill. Republican Richard Burr voted against.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com