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| Will Congress do the right thing on Biggert-Waters? (Photo by Mark E. Ruquet) |
With reform legislation pending before the House, one would think that even the right-wing proponents of Biggert-Waters Act would understand the harm it is doing to middle-class homeowners and offer some support for the changes. At the worst, if they feel the rollback reforms are inadequate, then one would think they would offer a plan to improve the bill and at the same time help the middle-class.
According to veteran Washington reporter Dave Postal, nothing could be further from the truth. He reports that the House leadership has heard its members concerns about re-election and has relented from their previous stand on not moving ahead on rolling back Biggert-Waters. A quick-vote -- which could mean moving the bill through the House by unanimous consent avoiding a voice vote -- may mean we could see a resolution of this by the end of next month. Since the House and Senate (S 1926) passed different bills, it would mean the two bills will go to a conference committee to work out the differences.
However, be warned, passage by the House of bill H.R.3370 will not mean an immediate roll back of rates.
Unfortunately, Postal reports that some very influential right-leaning lobbying groups do not want to see Biggert-Waters repealed. That could still spell danger for the future of the rollback. One can never be certain what happens behind closed doors -- especially when a chummy lobbyist cozy-ups to a Congressman or
Senator.
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