Frank: No Foreclosure Prevention Legislation

House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., does not expect changes to the bankruptcy law to prevent foreclosures will be included in an economic recovery bill that congressional leaders want to pass in late January for President Barack Obama to sign. But the committee chairman warned industry groups that Congress could pass a bankruptcy bill later next year that allows judges to modify mortgages on primary residences if the level of loan modifications does not pick up significantly. "If by February we have the same frustration. If we aren't able to have a better success rate at reducing foreclosures, then I believe political support for bankruptcy will increase," Rep. Frank said at an Office of Thrift Supervision housing forum. Chairman Frank also noted that the new president would have "plenty of legal authority" to implement an aggressive loan modification program thanks to the Troubled Asset Relief Program Congress passed in October. And the economic recovery bill does not need to address that issue. "I don't think you need legislation," he told reporters.