As of 2:45 p.m., according to the U.S. House of Representatives website, http://www.house.gov/, the troublesome House Resolution 3915 is still open. The bill has yet to come before open-floor discussion and voting. Oddly though, a number of other resolutions with little wide-spread impact were discussed. Among these was a resolution to discuss and agree to congratulate the Red Sox on their 2007 World Series victory. Even if the Mortgage Reform Bill were not on the agenda, I would still have to question why our legislators are expending time and resources to discuss congratulating a professional sports team on their championship victory (although I think the Boys from Beantown do deserve a nod from our nation's capitol), when they could have just placed one huge conference call and dispensed with the kudos right then and there.
But I digress....
This bill is still lurking under the radar, and Barney Frank is piloting this submarine, with all the torpedo tubes ready to launch. He has managed to swing (through contrivance and verbal sleight-of-hand, I'm sure) the endorsemnets of two notable Republican representatives in an effort to push this bill through The House. I'm fairly certain, as I have been tracking the bill's discussion and disposition all day, that Mr. Frannk and his crew have also steered the bill away from early discussions in the hope that some of the Representatives will leave the session to attend to election matters, grab dinner, or take care of other business pertinent to their home jurisdiction. The heightened absences would give Frank leverage in passing the bill through a suspension of rules and a garnered quick vote on the matter. From that point, the bill would head to a Senate occupied by a large contingent of Democrats who have seen their own popularities fading and who are desperate to look as if they have the nation's better interests at heart and in hand. Unfortunately, these Senators may not see or know the full ramifications of passing such a bill. And even if they did, they would probably pass the bill because they think that something has to be done to quell the damage already done. They would remain ignorant of the fact that this is ban-aid-on-a-bullet-wound approach to a problem that would most likely make the bullet wound turn gangrenous.
Please, if you have an opportunity, go the House website at http://clerk.house.gov/floorsummary/floor.html and check the status of the bill in session. If the bill does not reach the floor, please continue to write, petition, and telephone your national representatives and let them know this bill, as it stands, is nightmarish for the consumer, the markets, and hundredes of thousands of workers. And even if it does pass, we still may have a shot at stopping it in the Senate. Just keep shouting!
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