Among Democrats, a rift over siding with banks
| Washington
With Sen. Arlen Specter exiting the GOP this week, Senate Democrats appeared to be one Minnesota recount away from an unassailable supermajority 鈥� that is, until they lost 12 of their own on a key housing vote.
It鈥檚 a reminder that Senate votes come one at a time 鈥� despite what the fundraising appeals on both sides of the aisle say about getting to that game-changing 60-vote threshold.
The 45-to-51 vote also uncovers a significant rift in the Democratic majority鈥檚 ranks on a defining issue: How far to accept the finance industry鈥檚 view of the nation's economic crisis and its solution.
At issue in the vote was whether to empower bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgages to help families avoid foreclosure. The amendment, sponsored by Senate majority whip Richard Durbin, adds bankruptcy reform to a housing and consumer protection bill that enjoys bipartisan support.
The underlying bill increases borrowing authority for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to $100 billion, up from $30 billion, and makes permanent a temporary increase for FDIC deposit insurance to $250,000, up from $100,000 last year. It also expands access to the $300 billion Hope for Homeowners program. Courts can now write down the interest or principal on vacation homes, yachts, and other big-ticket items involved in bankruptcy proceedings, but not on primary homes.
Banking industry lobbyists favor the bill but strongly opposed Durbin's amendment, which they dubbed 鈥渃ramdown.鈥� It鈥檚 sure to 鈥渞aise mortgage costs for consumers,鈥� said the Mortgage Bankers Association in the runup to Thursday's vote. Bankers say that if a court can lower interest rates or the principal owed on a mortgage, then it follows that banks will have to take that new risk into account when they price new mortgages 鈥� and the cost of borrowing will be higher for all consumers.
Senator Durbin negotiated with banks and consumer groups for months before Thursday鈥檚 vote, but negotiations broke down, he says. But the biggest blow to Senate Democrat leadership was the depth of opposition in their own party's ranks.
鈥淲e won鈥檛 get out of this recession until we deal honestly and forthrightly with this foreclosure crisis. And I just don鈥檛 know what it will take to bring people around to the belief that these bankers don鈥檛 have the right formula for the future of this country,鈥� said Senator Durbin.
鈥淚 am sick and tired of being asked to give billions of dollars to these banks when they won鈥檛 in any way help people facing mortgage foreclosure,鈥� he added, at a leadership briefing on Thursday.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not renegotiating these mortgages. If they have no sympathy for 8 million families facing foreclosure in this country, I don鈥檛 have any sympathy for them.鈥� Durbin says that he won鈥檛 support any further requests for taxpayer bailouts for banks under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
"This is an issue that Democrats, Republicans, independents in the country want something done [about], and I feel kind of sorry for senators that don鈥檛 support this legislation, because I think [that] can really backfire," said Senate majority leader Harry Reid, also at the briefing.
But the dozen Democrats who voted with a unified Republican caucus on the issue saw it differently.
鈥淭he cramdown approach sounds real good, but I don鈥檛 think that anybody in the business of lending will be able to determine what they have in the way of mortgages if a judge can come along and make all kinds of changes to the mortgages,鈥� says Sen. Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska, who voted against the Durbin amendment.
鈥淚t potentially raises the rates for all the folks who don鈥檛 end up in bankruptcy. The cost shift is something that I鈥檓 quite concerned about. We鈥檝e had banks back home raise the question. I don鈥檛 know anybody back home who鈥檚 for it,鈥� he says. But he adds that he wasn't pressured very hard on the issue by banks.
Delaware Sens. Thomas Carper and Ted Kaufman, both Democrats from the state that launched the credit card industry, split on the vote.
Freshman Senator Kaufman, who voted for the Durbin amendment, said that it bothered him that current law allows judges to modify loans for automobiles and second homes but not for primary residences. 鈥淲hy should a home be treated any differently than any other asset under bankruptcy?鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to look at every individual vote and call them as I see them.鈥�
Senator Carper, who opposed the amendment, says that 鈥渙ne of the reasons why mortgage rates are cheaper for primary homes is that the markets have the certainty that the judge won鈥檛 be invited in to change the terms of the mortgage.鈥� Responding to claims that banks own the Senate, he said: 鈥淭he banks sure don鈥檛 think so.鈥�
A new Gallup poll, released April 23, reports that the percentage of Americans saying they have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in US banks has fallen to 18 percent 鈥� down 14 percentage points from a June 2008 Gallup poll and 23 points from a June 2007 poll.
鈥淭o think that [banks] have clout in this chamber to dictate what we鈥檙e going to do in terms of mortgages and foreclosures really troubles me,鈥� says Durbin.
鈥淭hey spent $60 million in the last campaign鈥�. They have the lobbyists; they have the people on the phones, they鈥檙e the ones who were working to defeat this amendment. Make no mistake about it: That鈥檚 where the opposition comes from. I can鈥檛 match what the bankers did in terms of lobbying,鈥� he says.
The banking industry supports the underlying bill, a version of which passed the House on March 5. But industry lobbyists say that the Durbin amendment was a "poison pill" that would have scuttled the bill.
鈥淭he bankers really recognized that Senator Durbin was offering his proposals in very good faith, but we didn鈥檛 see how that proposal was going to get the deposit insurance provisions [in the underlying bill] enacted into law,鈥� says Steve Verdier, director of congressional affairs for the Independent Community Bankers Association of America, which participated in the negotiations.
Banks objected to 鈥渃ramdown,鈥� because of the 鈥減recedent it sets for mortgages that might be made in the future or affected by a future Congress,鈥� he adds.
鈥淚 think Obama has a pretty good plan on the table, and it鈥檚 just going to take some time. The economy is going to have to get better so that people can make even reduced terms on their mortgages. If they鈥檙e not working, they can鈥檛 even make reduced payments,鈥漵ays Mr. Verdier.
