Treasury Secretary John Snow said that he liked, in general terms, an idea floated by a Louisiana Congressman for a new federal bailout agency to help rebuild New Orleans. Under the plan, the government would buy homes and land, clean up the property, and sell it back to the private sector. Rep. Richard Baker, R.-La., the author or the plan, estimates it will cost about $80 billion. "Without endorsing Congressman Baker's proposal, that approach, done the right way, has some merit to it," Snow said in a television interview. Under the plan, homeowners would be able to sell their homes to the government for not less than 60% of their equity before Hurricane Katrina struck the region in late August.