Mark-Up Slated for Mortgage Restructure Bill

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee plan to try Nov. 7 to mark up a bill that allows bankruptcy judges to restructure mortgages, and they are hoping to get some Republican support.Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., acknowledged at a Nov. 1 hearing that it will be "very tough" to get the bankruptcy bill through the House and the Senate without Republican support. But it appears that the Democrats will be lucky to get support for the bankruptcy bill (H.R. 3609) from Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, who has introduced his own bankruptcy restructuring bill. Mortgage industry lobbyists are fairly confident that opposition from Republicans and a group of conservative Democrats will make it difficult to bring H.R. 3609 to the House floor for a vote. Separately, the House Financial Services Committee is planning to start the mark-up of a predatory lending bill (H.R. 3915) on Nov. 6, which could take several days to complete.