Clinton proposes Greenspan lead foreclosure group

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., March 24 (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and other economic experts should determine whether the U.S. government needs to buy up homes to stem the country's housing crisis, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will propose on Monday.

Clinton, a senator from New York, said the Federal Housing Administration should "stand ready" to buy, restructure and resell failed mortgages to strengthen the ailing U.S. economy.

"Just as it has in the past, this kind of temporary measure by the government could give our economy the boost it needs and families the help they need," Clinton will say, according to excerpts of a speech she will give in Philadelphia.

"It would not require a single new government bureaucracy, and would be designed to be self-financing over time -- so it would cost taxpayers nothing in the long run."

Clinton will say a bipartisan group should determine whether that approach was sufficient or whether the U.S. government should step in as a temporary purchaser.

She suggested the group could be led by economic gurus such as Republican Greenspan, Democratic former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and Robert Rubin, the treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, editing by Patricia Wilson)