President Barack Obama threw a $75 billionlifeline to millions of Americans on the brink of foreclosure Wednesday, declaring an urgent need for drastic action - not only to save their homes but to keep the housing crisis "from wreaking even greater havoc" on the broader national economy. The lending plan, a full $25 billion bigger than the administration had been suggesting, aims to prevent as many as 9million homeowners from being evicted and to stabilize housing markets that are at the center of the ever-worsening U.S. recession. Government support pledged to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is being doubled as well, to $400 billion, as part ofan effort to encourage them to refinance loans that are "under water" - those in which homes' market values have sunk below the amount the owners still owe. "All of us are paying a price for this home mortgage crisis, and all of us will pay an even steeper price if we allow thiscrisis to continue to deepen," Obama said. The new president, focusing closely on the economy, in his first month in office, rolled out the housing program one day after hewas in Denver to sign his $787 billion emergency stimulus plan to revive the rest of the economy. And his administration is just now going over fresh requests for multiple billions in bailout cash from ailing automakers.