Foreclosure Bill Dies in Senate

"And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place," - Dick Durbin [D - Illinois Senator]

Several weeks ago, the Democrat controlled Congress voted down a bill that would have given a new option to millions of Americans facing the prospects of losing their homes (click here). As the above quote implies, there was a lot of pressure from banks and bank lobbyists to kill the measure that would have allowed MILLIONS of home owners facing foreclosure to petition a bankruptcy judge to lower their monthly payments. I blogged (click here) about this in February, about the idea originally proposed by (Republican!) FDIC chairwoman Sheila Blair during the last months of the Bush administration.

Not surprising, EVERY SINGLE Republican Senator (which almost ALWAYS favor business interests over public interest) voted against the measure, as well as 12 Democrats. A significantly weaker bill (which will be hailed as a success) was passed by Congress 2 weeks ago (click here).

If the only news you're aware of are the "sound bites" you get from cable news showing Republicans railing against the bailouts, then you'd think that Republicans are out fighting for the people. These are the stories that happen all the time that noone covers. Noone cares about bills that die in Congress. Thats too boooooooring. Its better to have national news talk about missing children and cargo captains taken hostage.