LAS VEGAS (AP) - President Barack Obama is offering mortgage relief to struggling homeowners in hard-hit Nevada and around the country - saying he can't wait for an "increasingly dysfunctional Congress" to act.

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The president said Monday that "where they won't act, I will." He made the comments in remarks prepared for a stop in Las Vegas as he began a three-day Western trip.

His new housing initiative would allow homeowners who are still current on their mortgage payments to refinance no matter how much their home value has dropped. It's a recognition that measures the administration has taken so far haven't done as much as had hoped on housing.

And Obama said that he'll be going around Congress to take executive action wherever possible, with Republican lawmakers prepared to block his initiatives.