Republicans claim President Obama’s $75 billion anti-foreclosure effort is making the nation’s economy worse – and that many people facing home losses should simply go back to renting.

"Many Americans are throwing their money away through a government program that’s supposed to help them, but is only leaving them in a bigger financial hole," U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in releasing a report he co-wrote with U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).

The two Republicans claim taxpayers aren’t getting their money’s worth out of Obama’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or "HAMP."

Specifically, they claim HAMP is only delaying the day of reckoning for many consumers who can’t really afford their homes.

"Money that could be spent on affordable rental housing is instead being spent on mortgage payments when many of these homeowners have little hope of permanently keeping their homes," Jordan said.

Under HAMP, major U.S. banks have agreed to voluntarily "modify" financially strapped homeowners’ mortgages rather than foreclosing.

Lenders typically cut a consumer’s monthly mortgage bill to no more than 31 percent of household income, extending a 30-year loan’s terms out an extra 10 years to make up the difference. Banks also get government cash bonuses for every mortgage permanently modified.

However, the Obama administration recently admitted that just 116,000 homeowners out of 1 million who’ve sought HAMP assistance have actually gotten permanent help.

That has Issa and Jordan seeing red – as do recent reports showing that U.S. foreclosure rates have hit record highs."

"HAMP has failed," the lawmakers declared in their report. "The administration’s pressure and (mortgage) servicers’ redoubled efforts have not alleviated the foreclosure crisis."

Issa and Jordan added that HAMP could even prolong the U.S. real estate market’s correction by keeping overextended consumers in houses these homeowners can’t really afford.

Still, the Obama administration is defending HAMP.

Officials claim the program offers a second chance to homeowners who got stuck with shoddy mortgages during the U.S. housing boom.

"(HAMP) is providing critical assistance to borrowers experiencing a range of financial hardships and who would otherwise be facing the loss of their homes," Phyllis Caldwell, chief of the U.S. Treasury ‘s homeownership-preservation office, said in remarks prepared for a House hearing.