The House Financial Services Committee will conduct a hearing March 2 considering four bills that would effectively end national foreclosure prevention programs. The four proposals would end the Home Affordable Modification Program, the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the Federal Housing Administration Refinance Program and the Emergency Homeowner Relief Fund. The four programs have a combined price tag of roughly $45 billion. “In an era of record-breaking deficits, it’s time to pull the plug on these programs that are actually doing more harm than good for struggling homeowners,” said Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), chairman of the committee. “These programs may have been well-intentioned but they’re not working and, in reality, are making things worse.” The Department of Housing and Urban Development has assigned roughly $7 billion through three rounds of NSP funding, and another $81.2 billion through the FHA Refi Program, which has only 35 applications as of Dec. 13, 2010. Republican lawmakers have said borrowers participating in these programs will only make them “worse off in the long run” as they take on more debt and spend more in fees dealing with the banks and servicers. The biggest lightning rod has been HAMP, which has roughly $29 billion allocated from the Treasury Department. The Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program said in a recent report that those applying for modifications under HAMP are caught “depleting their dwindling savings in an ultimately futile effort to obtain the sustainable relief promised by the program guidelines.” The Treasury installed new changes to HAMP in February, including a new escalation initiative that would give borrowers a chance to contest a servicer’s decision. The program’s architect Laurie Maggiano, who still works as a director of policy at the Treasury, said they are still dedicated to HAMP, which should see improvements in 2011. Still, some lawmakers are ready to pull the plug immediately. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) is the chairperson of the housing and community subcommittee, which will consider these bills as well on March 3. “We need to break down barriers that have delayed the housing recovery, including expensive and ineffective government programs that have failed to help homeowners.  Unfortunately, these programs were set up in haste, executed poorly, and have done little to restore stability in the marketplace,” Biggert said. Write to Jon Prior. Follow him on Twitter: @JonAPrior