Durbin Statement on Failure of Senate to Approve Bankruptcy Provision in Housing Package

Statement

Durbin Statement on Failure of Senate to Approve Bankruptcy Provision in Housing Package

United States Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) issued the following statement today, after the Senate failed to approve an amendment he offered to allow hundreds of thousands of at risk homeowners to alter the terms of their mortgages in bankruptcy proceedings.

"If the federal government is going to ride to the rescue of investment banks on Wall Street, it should also provide some relief to those who are about to lose their homes on Main Street. Our goal ought to be preventing foreclosures not just propping up home builders and big lenders."

"The provision I offered was narrowly tailored and provided real help to more than half a million American homeowners facing foreclosure. Unfortunately, my amendment was strenuously opposed by the banking lobby and their powerful friends in the Bush Administration and in the Senate."

"I'm disappointed in today's outcome, but this is not the last word on the housing issue or the last word on our efforts to give homeowners every tool to stay in their homes."

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