You know the drill http://www.house.gov/ Enter your zip code to find your rep and their contact numbers if you don't already have them
http://www.reuters.com/article/poli...Type=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Key U.S. House Democrats have agreed on changes in legislation letting bankruptcy judges reduce mortgage debt, and hope to have a vote on the legislation on Thursday, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said on Tuesday.
"Changes were agreed to that I think made it better," Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Reuters after emerging from negotiations on the bill with other lawmakers. The bill was "on track" to pass on Thursday, he said.
Frank declined to describe the changes, saying most of them had to do with the part of the legislation that the Judiciary Committee had handled. The bill was a product of both that panel and Frank's committee.
But Frank indicated the changes were not major. "It was a case of spelling out things that you thought you had spelled out."
Earlier, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said changes in the controversial bill were being discussed to focus on making sure that people who get the relief -- easing the terms of troubled home loans -- had tried other alternatives first.
"I'm hopeful we'll have this on the floor on Thursday," Hoyer told reporters.
The legislation, often referred to as the cramdown bill, was supposed to be voted on last week but was pulled at the last minute after a faction of fiscal conservatives expressed misgivings about the plan. They said it could distort the price of mortgage investments on Wall Street.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, trying to assuage lawmakers' concerns, scheduled a briefing for them by Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development. That briefing had been expected to take place on Monday evening but had to be postponed until Tuesday evening after a snowstorm kept many lawmakers from returning to Washington in time.
Officials at the Federal Reserve and Federal Housing Finance Agency fret that giving bankruptcy judges sweeping power to modify home loans could discourage fresh investment in the sector, and many lawmakers share that view.
President Obama has endorsed the cramdown idea as a useful tool to prod mortgage service companies to ease the terms of troubled loans but officials agree that it must be carefully calibrated.
Last week the President outlined a housing rescue plan that aims to lower monthly mortgage payments for 9 million borrowers, and restore a housing market battered by record foreclosures.
http://www.reuters.com/article/poli...Type=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Key U.S. House Democrats have agreed on changes in legislation letting bankruptcy judges reduce mortgage debt, and hope to have a vote on the legislation on Thursday, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said on Tuesday.
"Changes were agreed to that I think made it better," Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Reuters after emerging from negotiations on the bill with other lawmakers. The bill was "on track" to pass on Thursday, he said.
Frank declined to describe the changes, saying most of them had to do with the part of the legislation that the Judiciary Committee had handled. The bill was a product of both that panel and Frank's committee.
But Frank indicated the changes were not major. "It was a case of spelling out things that you thought you had spelled out."
Earlier, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said changes in the controversial bill were being discussed to focus on making sure that people who get the relief -- easing the terms of troubled home loans -- had tried other alternatives first.
"I'm hopeful we'll have this on the floor on Thursday," Hoyer told reporters.
The legislation, often referred to as the cramdown bill, was supposed to be voted on last week but was pulled at the last minute after a faction of fiscal conservatives expressed misgivings about the plan. They said it could distort the price of mortgage investments on Wall Street.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, trying to assuage lawmakers' concerns, scheduled a briefing for them by Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development. That briefing had been expected to take place on Monday evening but had to be postponed until Tuesday evening after a snowstorm kept many lawmakers from returning to Washington in time.
Officials at the Federal Reserve and Federal Housing Finance Agency fret that giving bankruptcy judges sweeping power to modify home loans could discourage fresh investment in the sector, and many lawmakers share that view.
President Obama has endorsed the cramdown idea as a useful tool to prod mortgage service companies to ease the terms of troubled loans but officials agree that it must be carefully calibrated.
Last week the President outlined a housing rescue plan that aims to lower monthly mortgage payments for 9 million borrowers, and restore a housing market battered by record foreclosures.
