Housing Plan Will Help Real Victims: Biden Aide

The White House is trying to help people who have been "victims of the unforeseen circumstance" with their mortgages, Jared Bernstein, chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden, told CNBC.

"I think if you frame it the way Rick [Santelli] did and the others have…some folks really haven’t taken the time to actually peel back and look at what’s in this plan," Bernstein said in response to Thursday's "Rick Santelli’s Tea Party" rant.

Bernstein said the government is not trying to incentivize people who are "months behind on their payments," but instead is looking to introduce a structure where people "who have done everything right" can renegotiate mortgage loans that are bundled into mortgage-backed securities.

"By tweaking some of the modification plans, we’re going to enable people to avoid the problem of foreclosure," said Bernstein.

Bernstein said the housing plan will successfully help those who are victims of the housing bubble.

"You’re looking at a group of people who the only thing they did wrong was to get stuck in a housing bubble. We may disagree on this point, but I don’t think it’s their fault if their home equities collapsed because there’s a housing bubble out there. And so I think if Rick and others learn more about this plan, then they’re going to feel differently about it."