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WASHINGTON (CBS News) ― When Florida real estate was red-hot, Pam Calciano thought a $400,000 second home was a good investment. Not any more.

"I'm workings weekends. I'm a nurse, I make good money and I feel like it's all going to the house," she told CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason.

And with the payments of her adjustable rate mortgage about to adjust hundreds of dollars higher, she's had to put that house on the market.

"If it takes the president to get involved, I agree with that," Calciano said.

The president did step in today, offering a new plan that would allow families in default because of rising payments to refinance into mortgages insured by the government.

President Bush outlined ways to help homeowners facing foreclosure - the administration's first effort to deal with an expected wave of defaults fueled by the mortgage crisis.

The initiatives (which are not aimed at bailing out lenders or speculators) are designed to help homeowners with risky mortgages keep their houses. In remarks in the Rose Garden, Mr. Bush also discussed efforts to keep the problems from arising in the future.

"The government's got a role to play, but it is limited," Mr. Bush said. "A federal bailout of lenders would only encourage a recurrence of the problem."

The president insisted that the U.S. economy was strong and could weather recent turbulence in the financial markets. He said the mortgage market, especially the subprime sector, has shown particular strain. One of the most troubling developments has been an increase in adjustable-rate mortgages, which start out with low interest rates, then reset to higher rates after a few years.

"This has led some homeowners to take out loans larger than they could afford based on overly optimistic assumptions about the future performance of the housing market," Mr. Bush said. "Others may have been confused by the terms of their loan, or misled by irresponsible lenders. Whatever the reason they chose this kind of mortgage, some borrowers are now unable to make their monthly payments, or facing foreclosure."

The White House says this could help nearly a quarter of a million homeowners. But they must have strong credit histories. It would not include any sub-prime borrowers … borrowers like Pam Calciano:

"It's not the government's job to bail out speculators, or those who made the decision to buy a home they knew they could never afford," Mr. Bush said today.

Earlier this month, Mr. Bush predicted that the ongoing decline in the housing market wouldn't become precipitous, but would result in a "soft landing."

He rejected any direct government aid to homeowners losing their houses to foreclosures, saying he only supported federal government help that would encourage refinancing and educate prospective home buyers about risky mortgage terms

"Anybody who loses their home is somebody with whom we must show enormous empathy," the president said at an Aug. 9 news conference. "The word `bailout,' I'm not exactly sure what you mean. If you mean direct grants to homeowners, the answer would be no, I don't support that."

On Friday, Bush:

• Urged Congress to pass legislation that would give the Federal Housing Administration more flexibility to help mortgage holders with subprime mortgages;
• Pledged to work with Congress to reform the tax code to help troubled borrowers rework their loans; and
• Called for rigorously enforcing predatory lending laws and strengthening lending practices.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke also sent a message today, repeating, in a speech, his pledge that the Fed is ready to "act as needed" to ensure the mortgage crisis doesn't infect the entire economy.

Even as Bernanke vowed Fed action, he sought to temper investors' expectations:

"It is not the responsibility of the Federal Reserve nor would it be appropriate to protect lenders and investors from the consequences of their financial decisions," Bernanke said. "But developments in financial markets can have broad economic effects felt by many outside the markets, and the Federal Reserve must take those effects into account when determining policy."

"The principal actors have told us, 'We're on the job, we're paying attention, and if anything bad happens we will take care of it,'" Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock, told Mason. "That's good enough."

It was good enough for the markets today - the Dow staged a triple-digit rally.

Peter Dunay of Leeb Capital says Bernanke's next moves will be crucial.

"He does not want to come in and be a brand new Fed chairman that puts us into a very, very bad recession," he told Mason.

That's why the Fed is widely expected to cut its key rate next month. It would be the first cut in four years and offer some interest rate relief for mortgage buyers, but too late for Pam Calciano, who's learning how much a slumping housing market can hurt. She's reduced the price of her house over $100,000 dollars.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)