WASHINGTON -- With any luck, the second half of this year will be better than the so-far rocky first half. The Federal Reserve chief hopes that is the case. So does President Bush.

WASHINGTON - President Bush, acknowledging the economic "tough times" for many Americans, said today that he remains opposed to any homeowner rescue legislation that would be a bailout for lenders.

There's a silver lining to the credit crisis for student borrowers. Last week, President Bush signed a bill that will let undergraduate college students take out an extra $2,000 per year in federally guaranteed Stafford loans.

President Bush vowed yesterday to veto a Democratic plan to rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners at risk of foreclosure, charging that the measure would "reward speculators and lenders" while doing little to ease the nation's mortgage crisis.

WASHINGTON - President Bush threatened today to veto Democrats' broad housing rescue package, saying it won't help struggling homeowners.

On May 26, 2001, after then-Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.) cast his vote against President Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut, he trudged back to his office, convinced, he recalled, that he had been the lone Republican to oppose the largest tax cut in two decades.

Late last year, President Bush signed a law that temporarily waives federal income tax on certain home-mortgage debt that is canceled or forgiven.

WASHINGTON - President Bush today chose SBA Administrator Steve Preston to take over as head of the government's housing agency at a time of crisis in the industry.

The federal tax bill for President Bush and his wife in 2007 was $221,635.

WASHINGTON -- A program President Bush is expanding to help struggling homeowners head off foreclosure has helped only 1 percent of the borrowers it originally set out to assist and is expected to reach just 100,000 more by the end of the year.