GOP Hesitates on Call for Mortgage Probe

GOP lawmakers are leery of investigating mortgage deals Countrywide may have arranged for members of Congress, even though a fellow Republican is leading the charge, Politico reports. More Democratic ties to the troubled lender would give the GOP ammo in a cycle seemingly stacked against it—but the people who must pull the trigger are apprehensive about “opening Pandora’s box,” said one aide.

“You have to be careful,” the aide explained. “We could use this politically, but we’d have to do due diligence on our side—You don’t see many people jumping on this, because they don’t know if anyone else is dirty.” (More Republican stories.)