A group of Senate Democrats, apparently opposed to passage of the “Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2009,” are likely to push the bill to a vote this week on the Senate floor.
This is, unfortunately, bad news for those of us hoping to give bankruptcy judges the power to work out mortgage modifications and save homes. There aren’t enough votes to pass the measure, by most accounts, and therefore pushing it to a vote will likely mean defeat.
There is talk of rewriting the bill to build a better consensus and get something passed to stem the foreclosure crisis. We will just have to wait and see what those changes are, and hope the act continues to include a real solution such as granting authority to Bankruptcy judges to modify loans.