Thursday, February 26, 2009

Housing Bailout Delayed by Moderate Dems

It seems that these Blue Dog Dems might hold quite a bit of power in this new Congress. They seem to be stalling the Housing Bailout.

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.

There should be room for people who aren't about to lose their house to refinance to a lower interest rate in order to lock the thing in. That could mean $1000s in savings for homeowners even though their house isn't underwater or about to be foreclosed on.

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