Update 2: Centrist Dems argue over bill changes as Durbin tries to limit cramdowns to ‘exotic subprime loans” only at banks request…..Housing: House Bankruptcy Cramdowns/judicial modification bill
UPDATE: AP and El Rushbo just reported Moderate Dems having closed door dispute with Speaker and Bill Sponsors over how this cramdown legislation will affect currently struggling homeowners..if this doesnt help anyone but EXOTIC Subprime loans, then it is a STUPID people rescue or the Irresponsibility Act of 2009 and really if you listen to things Robert Reich said about making sure the stimulus jobs dont go to white engineers, then you start to question what social engineering they are doing here…
CALL YOUR CRITTERS FOLKS
A dispute among House Democrats stalled legislation Thursday to let bankruptcy judges reduce the principal and interest rate on mortgages for debt-strapped homeowners.
It hit a snag after a group of moderates expressed concerns in a closed-door meeting of House Democrats about how the bill would affect homeowners who are still struggling to make their mortgage payments.
The banking industry has lobbied hard against the measure, mounting a successful multimillion-dollar effort last year to kill it.
This year, mortgage industry players who are scrambling to narrow the scope of the measure to reduce its potential cost for banks have won some key concessions. House Democrats agreed to limit the measure to existing loans made before the bill is enacted and to borrowers who can show they tried other ways of modifying their home loans before resorting to bankruptcy, among other changes.
But banks want to go much further, restricting the bill only to subprime or other exotic loans.
Centrist House Democrats who have been working closely with the financial services industry to scale back the bill balked at supporting it on Thursday after a news report suggested that Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the lead sponsor of the bankruptcy measure in the Senate, was willing to limit it only to subprime mortgages. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation within two weeks.
In the House, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., the head of the business-minded New Democrat Coalition, raised concerns during the private session that the measure omitted help for homeowners who aren’t staring at bankruptcy but are buckling under burdensome mortgage payments.
House leaders said they had postponed a vote until Tuesday to give Democrats time to meet with Obama’s housing secretary, Shaun Donovan, about how the measure fits with his housing plan.
“There’s an equity question here,” said Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., another member of the coalition. “The discussion has got to be, what’s the benefit to the guy next door who is struggling to pay the bills, is paying the bills and isn’t filing for bankruptcy?”
More clips from the Speaker
LIVE ON CSPAN
Expected to vote on this today
Here is what the Critters have been up to this morning:
Continues after the break
UPDATE: Some Market moves on budget…..Kennedy/Baucus OpEd in WSJ on Healthcare Reform…
Update: Here is something good , the budget healthcare portion has reimportation of prescription drugs allowed, yay! Hey imagine how pixxed Blago will be, he was impeached in part on allowing IL to do that!
also Santelli reporting those earning under 250k will not be hit by raised dividend cap gains taxes in 2011, of course this assumes anyone is still paying a dividend in 2011, lol!
Sallie Mae TANKING on news of elimination of fees to private lenders for student loans…
Do you think they talk about the elimination of subsidies for RURAL providers in the Medicare program?
Do they mention the elimination of the HMO Medicare benefits for RURAL areas? NO!! They have the utter GAUL to talk UP the need for rural care even as Obama’s Budget is cutting it!
The cost-effective tests for treatment to come, should be fun once they combine their Database with actuarial tables on life expectancy….Gawd help us if they get genetic screening in there, can you imagine? I am sorry Mrs MiM but since you are over 40 and your father’s family has such a terrible history of heart disease and early death, the government has determined you are not eligible for that bypass, it isn’t cost-effective…..
In his address to the joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama declared that health-care reform “cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.” He is right….ow, it is imperative that we turn our attention to comprehensive health-care reform and move quickly with President Obama to fix our broken system.
Yes ,yes. Everything quick quick before anyone reads it or thinks too hard. WIKI WIKI!
If our initial efforts to restore American prosperity are ever to bear true fruit, Congress must follow up by creating a high quality, universally accessible, and cost effective health-care system….There is also a moral imperative to follow economic recovery efforts with health reform. If Congress can bail out the nation’s banks, surely we can help families get the quality, affordable health care they deserve.
Continues after the break
Obama Speech to Congress draws less viewers than Big Dawg and GWB…
Yep, the Thrill is Gone baby…heh…from Don Surber via Instapundit:
Considering this was the first SOTU by the most popular president in the Election Day polls in 20 years, one would think he would top them.
But Clinton’s first SOTU drew 66.9 million viewers.
In 2003, Bush drew 62 million.
Obama’s 52.4 million viewers last night was slightly above average, when adjusted for population, perhaps a sign that people no longer are as in awe of him — and that the nation does not feel it is as in peril as the media and the Democratic Party want people to think it is.
The people are not turning to the president for guidance.
That stands in stark contrast to the overwrought rhetoric he offered.
UPDATE: Nielsen pointed out, Obama’s share of 32.5% (percentage of Americans watching) was rather mediocre. Clinton in 1993 drew 44.3% of American viewers.
BB King and Clapton clip courtesy of jazzandblues1
Weekly Unemployment Claims Released…continuing claims break 5 million….
And the hits just keep comin’!!
The number of people remaining on the benefits roll after drawing an initial week of assistance increased by 114,000 to a 5.112 million in the week ended Feb. 14, the most recent week for which data is available. The so-called continued claims topped every estimate in a Reuters poll of 15 economists, which had a consensus forecast of 5.00 million.
Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits increased to a seasonally adjusted 667,000 in the week ended Feb. 21 from a revised 631,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said. It was the highest reading since October 1982, when claims reached 695,000.
The year-long U.S. recession has savaged the labor market and sent the unemployment rate soaring, with some economists fearing it will pierce 9 percent in 2009 from 7.6 percent in January and mount further next year.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast 625,000 new claims versus a previously reported count of 627,000 the week before
ginaswo
