The Wonk Room

Reid Might Cave On Cram-Downs: ‘What I’ll Do Is Take That Off And Do The Other Banking Provisions’

According to Congress Daily, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said that he is willing to “drop a cram-down provision from a House-passed banking bill if the language threatened to keep the Senate from passing the overall bill”:

If we can’t get the votes for that, and I am hopeful we can — I am semiconfident we can — then what I’ll do is take that off [the bill] and do the other banking provisions.

Reid’s move “seemed to acknowledge assertions by Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and others that the cram-down bill cannot pass due to opposition from Republicans and some Democratic moderates.” It also acknowledges that Reid is willing to pass a bankruptcy bill that has nothing to do with bankruptcy.

Of course, the Republican opposition has come in the form of a steady stream of misinformation, fueled by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s talking points. As Congress Daily noted, “eliminating or watering down the cram-down provision would be a win for the banking industry.”