Remember in elementary school choir how there was always that one kid who couldn't carry a tune, but who belted out every song and made sure everyone heard him?  Unfortunately, the same thing is happening in the political process today--lobbyists don't have the best interests of the country (and certainly not of the average person) at heart, but they're singing out loud and clear and everyone is hearing them.

The banking and consumer credit industries spent a decade and a hundreds of millions of dollars to pass the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act in 2005...an act which has been almost universally assessed to cause far more trouble than it's worth without effectively achieving any of its intended purposes.  Today, that same lobby is at work again, trying to prevent Congress from correcting a strange inconsistency in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code--one that will impact millions of people who have never even considered filing bankruptcy.

That's right.  It doesn't matter whether or not you ever plan to file for bankruptcy--if you own a home, or rent a home, or live in a neighborhood where there have been a lot of foreclosures, or hope to buy a home, S. 61 will affect you.

If, that is, it ever sees the light of day.

The bill, whose companion bill passed the House of Representatives last week, would allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages in bankruptcy court.  The banking industry wants you to think that's radical, but in fact right now virtually any secured debt (car loan, vacation home, commercial real estate, etc.) can be modified in bankruptcy court EXCEPT for the loan secured by the debtor's home.

With an estimated 8 million + foreclosures in the pipeline over the next few years, this provision could slow or even stop the slide in the housing market, make it possible for homeowners to stay in their homes, and stabilize housing costs.  Even homeowners who DO NOT FILE BANKRUPTCY will see those benefits, as mortgage holders will have a new incentive to renegotiate rather than institution foreclosure proceedings.

Right now, the banking industry, mortgage holders...the very people who created this mess over the past decade...are singing loudly--they're being heard.  They have the loudest voices, but there are far more of us than there are of them, and hundreds of thousands of soft voices can add up to a roar.

Please take a moment to let your Senator know that you support the mortgage modification bill, S. 61.

You can find contact information for your Senator here:  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

It only takes about a minute to make this phone call or to send an email, but it could make a lasting difference to someone you know!