Paulson says Congress housing proposals unhelpful

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Wednesday that many ideas proposed by U.S. lawmakers for alleviating housing woes were unhelpful, and said lawmakers should focus on more immediate policy fixes.

Answering questions after addressing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, he said there have been longstanding proposals for giving the Federal Housing Administration more lending authority and for improving oversight of government-sponsored lender, but Congress has not acted.

"There's an immediate clear need and I don't hear a lot of people arguing that either is unnecessary," Paulson said. "Some of these other ideas, they're well intended but would cause more harm than good."

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Chris Dodd has said he intends to propose legislation similar to that offered by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank that would have the FHA soak up more failing home mortgage loans.

Paulson told another questioner that he saw a need for greater transparency, or openness, in the operation of over-the-counter derivatives markets that have become increasingly important.

He said a proposed regulatory overhaul to be made public by Treasury "sometime soon" will reflect that, commenting "a lot of our work will be focused on the over-the-counter derivatives market."

(Reporting by Glenn Somerville, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)