For weeks now, the Senate has been attempting to craft a plan to address the housing crisis. One major point of contention has been Sen. Dick Durbin's proposal to aid homeowners facing foreclosure by allowing the terms of their mortgages to be revised in bankruptcy court. It's a common-sense reform and one that supporters say could aid as many as 600,000 Americans in dire financial straits -- most of them low-income homeowners carrying suprime loans. However, it's been strongly opposed by banking lobbyists, Senate Republicans, and the White House.
Unfortunately, The Hill is reporting that a bipartisan Senate group has stripped Durbin's proposal from the compromise bill that will receive a floor vote next week:
[S]ources close to the talks say the provisions that were pushed by Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) have been taken out of the base bill. Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) were leading the talks as their parties’ respective leaders on the Senate Banking Committee.
As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote last week: "The little guys get tough love. The big guys get forgiveness."
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