Have feds decided to waive the 10% penalty for early withdrawal of 401k funds for paying off home mortgages?

No. The same rules still apply. As a presidential candidate Obama proposed letting people tap into 15% of their 401(k) account balance up to $10K without the 10% early withdrawal penalty, but nothing concrete has come of it. McCain proposed relaxing the rules requiring mandatory distributions for people 70-1/2 and older, and also reducing the tax rates on withdrawals, but of course that hasn't happened either.