Get FREE BuzzFlash News Alerts

Email:  
Home

It's Sen. Durbin and Distressed Homeowners Versus the Mortgage Bankers Association. Rematch To Come?

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 12:55pm.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

Bail out the bankers, but not homeowners? See how it went down in the Senate despite Dick Durbin's considerable fight. -- "And the banks ... they frankly own the place."

IL Democratic Senator and Majority Whip Richard Durbin minced no words but expressed major frustration this week as the banking lobby, 12 weak-kneed or complicit Democratic senators, and the entire GOP bloc in the Senate said "no" to offering options to help financially distressed American homeowners keep the roofs over their heads. Durbin was sponsor of an amendment derisively characterized as "cramdown" by mortgage bankers who fought against it ferociously and effectively.

Real News Network offers this maddening glimpse into the lobbying behemoth that killed the measure:

 

The Durbin amendment would have allowed bankruptcy judges to renegotiate mortgage terms on primary residences and thereby prevent home foreclosures for an estimated 1.7 million families. The same measure had "sailed through the House in March," the LA Times reported.

As Durbin had said in a radio interview with WJJG Monday:

This week I'm going to go into battle with the banks over this foreclosure crisis. ... Folks are helpless. ... We're going to fight this week on foreclosures, and then next week it's gong to be on credit cards. 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. ... We're going to fight this battle ... I think it's worth a fight to give the consumers in this country a chance.

In a statement after the amendment's defeat Thursday, Durbin promised not to give up the fight:

We've given the bankers who got us into this crisis every opportunity to responsibly address this crisis and they have failed. I'll keep working to give homeowners every legal means to save their homes.

On MSNBC, Durbin had warned that one in six homeowners could lose their homes if mortgage banks are not forced to come to the table on loan renegotiation.

Progress Illinois has strong praise for Durbin as a consumer champion:

So far this session, Sen. Dick Durbin has stood behind consumers like no other public official in Washington.  He has served as the Senate Democrats' de facto point man on student aid reform, mortgage bankruptcy reform, usury reform, financial product safety, and consumer credit abuse. And around every corner, he's been met with resistance by banking industry lobbyists.

The credit card reform legislation that is the next fight appears likelier to win Senate approval and seems to have stronger Obama Administration backing. Progess Illinois, however, notes that lobbying by banking interests may have already rendered it "rather meaningless" by pushing its effective timeline out to July, 2010.

Voting with the banking lobby and against the foreclosure prevention amendment were:

 

NAYs ---51
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Carper (D-DE)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
 Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
 Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (D-PA)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Wicker (R-MS)

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS




»

first vote as Dem?

Submitted by diesel1507 on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 3:27pm.
Specter (D-PA) he should have stayed a repub.
»

Hate to say it but...

Submitted by Chabuka on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 12:24pm.
instead of blaming Durbin for not being able to herd the cats in the Blue-Dog caucus..(don't you think we should "fire" those twelve Democrats, next election?) we have the GOP on the run... why don't you ask President Obama why he was so ambivalent about his support on this bill (and also, CC, EFCA..?) And why is he saying "I support the workers" but actually gives it no more thought (apparently) than a "sound-bite" for TV/radio..while giving in to Wall Street (with both hands)?...the President of the United States could stop this rape of the middle class and workers..if he really wanted to...President Obama..when the Banks who have failed the "stress test" come asking for more money (because they spent all their profits and TARP money, buying Congress ...you tell them NO...for me
»

OPM - Other Peoples' Money

Submitted by Carol Burns on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 10:39am.
What the H***@x/? So the bankers are willing to accept OUR money with no strings attached to cover their bad investments, but they're not willing to "write down" these bad investments to give them at least SOME VALUE (other than the most obvious value: they are peoples' homes). I guess the bailout money is going toward buying off legislators, after all. OUR MONEY!!! These sellouts make me sick. Vote 'em out!!! People who bought these mortgages were intentionally MISLED, and you people know it. Do your jobs and represent the people, not the special interests.
»

Dazed and Confused

Submitted by Dr Roberts on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 11:44am.
"So the bankers are willing to accept OUR money with no strings attached"......Carol....please familiarize yourself with the TARP and then read up on the definitions of preferred stock and warrants.
»

Message Sent to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) May 2, 2009:

Submitted by hterrya on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 9:11am.

As Majority Whip, you are an utter and complete FAILURE!

On your OWN amendment (S.Amdt. 1014 to S. 896, "Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009"), you were UNABLE to whip TWELVE (12) "Democratic" Senators into line to vote "Yea" with YOU! And, your amendment was so pitifully WEAK that even Sen. LIEberman voted for it!

In contrast, Minority Whip Jon Kyl had ALL of his Republican Senators voting "Nay" on your amendment. Granted, he had ONE (1) Republican Senator recorded as "Not Voting" (Sen. Sessions) but then SO DID YOU! (Sen. Rockefeller - Sen. Kennedy not voting doesn't count)

You need to spend some time with Sen. Kyle and have him teach you how to be an effective Whip, or otherwise, you need to simply RESIGN as Majority Whip.

»

Cramdown

Submitted by Dr Roberts on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 9:03am.
So BuzzFlashers are aghast that Senators voted not to allow a bankruptcy judge to reduce the principal amount of a mortgage on top of what is already very favorable refinancing rates. How could this possibly be deemed legal in a capitalistic society? If it was legal, one could purchase a brand new Bentley, even though one knew the car was unnafordable, drive it off the showroom floor as it immediately drops several thousand dollars in value. Then, one can declare bankruptcy and the judge allows the individual to keep the car, since it is driven to work, but only make payments on the depreciated value of the vehicle. Is this America or the old Soviet Union, one can easily get confused with this type of proposed legislation.
»

It's a matter of scale

Submitted by SpikeHeels on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 10:20am.
It must be the old Soviet Union if you can afford two or three houses. If you have enough assets judges CAN and DO renegotiate mortgages and contracts. This amendment only applies to the masses that don't have an army of well funded lobbyists to protect them from the Senate.
»

Proper Perspective

Submitted by Dr Roberts on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 1:03pm.
Now I am even more confused. Don't the masses elect the Senators that represent them? Didn't the masses cast enough votes for eventual war criminals to be selected to occupy the White House. Wasn't the approval rating of these eventual war criminals at 90% after 9/11? Did not the masses once again cast enough votes to then allow actual war criminals to steal an election in order to occupy the White House for an additional four years? And the war criminals merely completed the job that Reagan, Bush I and Clinton had started. All of them duly elected by the masses. And now the masses demand that their sins be forgiven. No, the masses are being reminded of lessons that their grandparents learned the hard way during the Great Depression. Hopefully a wiser electorate will make more intelligent decisions at the polling place in the future. The voters have achieved a good start with the election of President Obama. However, those on the Far Left need to come to grips with the fact that he is certainly not a communist nor is he a socialist, contrary to what the bellicose Right might have people believe. The media has yet to inform the masses that Great Depression II has been taken off the table by actions taken by their government. However unpopularly these actions have been received by the masses, the fact of the matter is that our government has employed classic Keynesian tactics to right our economic ship. Contrary to the bitching of the masses, whether they be tea-baggers or neo-populists on the Left, our economy will only recover once credit is again flowing freely, which means a healthy banking system. And now BuzzFlashers approve of a measure which would impede that necessary reality. The Far Left has not had this much input into the system in my lifetime, and I go back to Eisenhower. One would hope that the excercise of that power would come with a modicum of restraint. Otherwise, darker forces will assume power once again much more rapidly than the ordinary time frame of the swinging of the pendulum within the body politic would indicate.
»

Bullshit

Submitted by noalternative on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 9:46pm.
our economy will only get going again, once Americans have real money rather than credit card debt.
»

Econ 101

Submitted by Dr Roberts on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 6:09pm.
Senor, Americans have money,but they are not spending it. They even have "real" greenback dollars that they are not spending. It is called a "Crisis of Confidence". Many Americans are too worried about their own economic future to spend their "real" greenback dollars.Why are they worried? Primarily they are concerned about being laid off from their place of employment. Corporations and small businesses, the entities which employ the vast majority of Americans, depend on a functioning, free-flowing CREDIT MARKET to effectively manage their enterprises. Now we can debate that the "prosperity" of the first decade of the new century was an illusion built on a house of cards, in other words deficit spending. And we can discuss the sad fact that Americans should have a higher savings rate. However, your brief comment only exposes your own biases and does nothing positive to advance ourselves out of the hole that we find ourselves in.
»

The Corporate Media has suppressed this story for 3 years now

Submitted by Norm on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 7:29am.
The DINOs (Democrats In Name Only) would not be able to squash this legislation were it not for the Corporate Media's burying this story and distorting the tragedy resulting from burying this story. Someone is foreclosed every 13 seconds in America (Bill Moyers' PBS Journal 05-01-2009). This is wrong! This is Anti-American! This is what the bankrupt scumbags like Paulson and Geithner are perpetrating on the American People. Thank Moron Joe Biden for voting for the 2005 bankruptcy law passed that made filing Chapter 13 more difficult and for doing the banks dirty work of screwing the American People. These bankers have no shame. They've been laundering drug money far too long, easily, and profitably and now they treat us, the American people, like their junkie clients. We're not junkies and there are far more of us than them. These scumbags and their paid Congressional Lackies belong in jail - not taking home $Billions of bonuses. If Obama wasn't a Corporate Lackey himself, he would call in the 12 DINOs and shame them into voting for the American People. Instead, Obama lets the DINOs do his dirty work.
»

Why did I fall for it

Submitted by rscott7706 on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 9:37pm.
Why did I fall for it again?

Change we can believe in....
Requisites for being a politician:
1. the ability to lie cheat and steal without once feeling the least of conscience.
2. the ability to cover it up with rosy and convincing retoric
3. strong hands (money gets very heavy)
4. great communication skills (you have to smooze the crooks that are lining your pockets)
5. the innate ability to convince the proletariat that it is the other guy that is a crook, while picking your pocket
6. great lawyers (they have to use your money in some productive way don't they?)
7. can you add to the list.... ? centerlaneron
»

It's pitiful

Submitted by sulphurdunn on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 4:14pm.
when a professed legislative body in a professed constitutional democracy will not pass legislation without a 3/5 majority when no such requirement is constitutionally mandated. The average American should be able to deduce what has happened. Ideas do not govern the actions of Senators. Money does. The Founders would have overthrown such an abomination. The US Senate, which has always been a rich mans club, has morphed into a de facto House of Lords, a body whose only purpose is to insure the prerogatives of wealth at whatever cost to the commoners. As things now stand, a mere 41 of these preening parrots can control the destiny of the entire country merely by what they obstruct. What if they gave an election and nobody came?
»

It's more pitiful than that!

Submitted by hterrya on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 6:31pm.

The Senate Democrats couldn't even field a 51-vote Majority!

AND, LIEberman voted WITH the Democrats (for one of the FEW times in his miserable, weasel-like life)!

As I keep repeating, Progressives are in a pitiful MINORITY in the current Congress and in the current POTUS and SCOTUS. Continuing to talk about Democrats vs. Republicans is a waste of time. It is Progressives vs. Conservatives and the Progressives are LOSING because they have bought into the bipartisan nonsense put out by the conservatives in all three branches of government.

Unlike the 3rd Party crowd's mantra (not a dime's worth of difference), there ARE Progressives in the Congress. They are just VASTLY outnumbered and outsmarted in the Congress and the Lamestream Media.

What the Progressives in Congress need is their own Gandhi to lead them in peaceful noncooperation with the Blue Dogs, "New" Democrats, and the DLC. Rep. Kucinich, and Senators Feingold, Durbin, and Whitehouse are viable candidates for the Gandhi mantle, but they haven't stepped up. It is time.

»