Durbin’s bankruptcy provision faces failure

A key housing bill provision to rewrite bankruptcy laws was teetering on the brink of collapse Thursday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told The Hill that he will not agree to an up-and-down vote for the measure — likely dooming the provision’s prospects even as its author was promoting it on the Senate floor.

{mosads}As Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was arguing passionately for his provision, McConnell said he would insist on the 60-vote threshold. That means that the Illinois Democrat must find approximately 10 Republicans to support it.

“I don’t think that’s going to be achievable,” McConnell said. “A number of my members object to that.”

Democratic sources say Durbin is hunting for Republican votes but remains short. Both sides agree the provision will receive a vote at some point, with the threshold for passage the only remaining question.

The bankruptcy provision would allow judges to revise the terms of mortgages on primary residences, as they can already do for second homes. Banking lobbyists and most Republicans oppose it because, they say, it would force interest rates to go up.

Durbin says the provision is the single most valuable piece of the overall housing bill and has responded to the concerns by limiting his proposal to existing mortgages.