Obama outlines FHA mortgage fee cuts

President Barack Obama announced a cut in fees Tuesday on many government-backed mortgages that he said could help millions of homeowners refinance, part of an election-year push to boost the shaky U.S. housing market.

Under the plan, a typical borrower with a loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration could save a thousand dollars a year by refinancing into a new FHA loan, the White House said. The fee reductions would be on top of any savings from a lower interest rate.

Obama spelled out the plan at the start of his first news conference of the year.

Two million to three million borrowers would be eligible, although the White House said participation was more likely to number in the "hundreds of thousands." It is the latest step in a series by the Obama administration to aid a depressed U.S. housing market and homeowners threatened by a rising tide of foreclosures.

Obama also said:

Democrats will have a "better story" than Republicans to tell female voters in the November election. He said he does not believe women will be single-issue voters. But he says his party has the better plan for women on everything from housing to education. The White House has sought to cast the debate over contraception access as a women's rights issue.

He reached out to Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown Law School student who was criticized by radio commentator Rush Limbaugh because of her vocal support for his administration's requirement of birth control insurance coverage, and because he doesn't want people who speak their minds about policy issues to be discouraged or attacked. Obama said the incident made him think of his two daughters and his hopes that they can engage in issues they care about in the future.

Unilateral military action by the United States against the government of Syrian president Bashar Assad would be a mistake. He rejected a comparison to Libya, where the United States and allies did intervene last year.