Obama Mortgage Plan Would Broaden Government-Backed Loans WASHINGTON - The White House plans to propose legislation that could allow a few million homeowners to reduce monthly mortgage payments by refinancing their current loans into new ones guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration. The program would broaden the availability of government-backed mortgages to include many borrowers whose loans are held by private companies and who have been unable to persuade those lenders to reduce their interest rates. Existing federal programs focus mostly on borrowers whose loans are owned by the government. The new plan would require Congressional approval, a difficult hurdle for any legislation in the current polarized environment. Still, some Republicans have expressed support for expanding the availability of refinancing, and White House officials insisted that the plan was not an act of theater. "I'm sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates," Mr. Obama said Tuesday night in his State of the Union address. No more runaround from the banks. Administration officials said they would release the full proposal in the near future. The new program will be directed at people whose mortgage debts exceed the value of their homes, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details have not yet been finalized. The official estimated that the program could benefit two million to three million homeowners who have loans that are not guaranteed by the government, and that the program's cost would not exceed $10 billion. The proposal is the latest in a long series of largely unsuccessful efforts by the administration to bolster the housing market. Like most of its predecessors, the plan is focused not on borrowers facing foreclosure but on those who have been able to keep making the payments on their homes. Reducing housing payments for those borrowers will allow them to spend more money on other things. It also could help to stabilize housing prices by encouraging them to stay in their homes. In October, the administration announced that it would increase eligibility for an existing refinancing program for homeowners whose loans were held by the government-owned mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Those changes did not require Congressional approval, but many Republicans expressed opposition. "The right course is to let markets work," the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said at the time. Mr. Romney has since suggested he would be open to working with lenders to stabilize the housing market. This new program would extend a similar refinancing opportunity to borrowers whose loans are held by private companies. Many such borrowers already have refinanced, taking advantage of interest rates below 4 percent, among the lowest ever available for mortgage loans. But millions more have been unable to do so, because their financial profiles are no longer strong enough to qualify or because their mortgage debts exceed the value of their homes. The F.H.A. is a government program that guarantees loans made by private companies, allowing the companies to offer lower interest rates. The program historically focused on lower-income borrowers, but its role has expanded dramatically since the collapse of the housing market began in 2006, and it now guarantees about 30 percent of new loans. Such loans are considered riskier because borrowers have no equity to lose if they stop payments. The program covers losses from fees on the loans it guarantees, but its reserves already are on the verge of exhaustion. To limit the risk to taxpayers, the administration will propose that any costs should be covered with part of the proceeds from a fee on the banking industry. That, too, is waiting for Congressional approval.