“Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act,” co-sponsored by Obama Covers For ACORN (Update)

Obama shields ACORN from “Criminal Prosecution in the Economic Crisis” is a highlighted story with Canada Free Press, buyer beware, another law to protect ACORN from criminal prosecution. The only reason ACORN itself has only been prosecuted in Washington State isbecause the throw their employees under the bus when they are charged with fraud.

Here are highlights from that article:

Not only did Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign pay more than U.S. $800,000 to a front of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, Now, ACORN, currently under investigation in a dozen States for voter registration fraud and bribery schemes, for “get-out-the-vote-efforts”; Obama co-sponsored legislation called the “Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2007”– that was supported by ACORN and protects them.

And don’t think he is the only Democrat who did. The list of co-sponsors is a who who of Democrats.

Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act, S.2136, was introduced in the Senate by Illinois Senator Richard Durbin over a year ago, on October 3, 2007. It was co-sponsored, by Obama and 12 other Democrats, including Vice Presidential hopeful, Joe Biden, and Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Christopher Dodd.

Give me a break. More Democrats protecting ACORN and other groups. There is more in this story, it tells how the bill protects them. And it involves The Truth In Lending Act (TILA)….the forms you receive when you buy a home.

More from CFP:

According to a Senate transcript, Durbin stated: “It is true that some families knowingly stretched a bit to buy more house than they should have. But many families were sold mortgages they couldn’t afford by unscrupulous brokers… This bill is supported by the AARP, ACORN, AFL-CIO and SEIU, the Center for Responsible Lending, the Consumer Federation of America, NAACP and La Raza, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition…”

Why would groups like ACORN, who according to Stanley Kurtz’s “O Dangerous Pals” undermined “the US economy by pushing the banking system into a sinkhole of bad loans…. by forcing banks to make hundreds of millions of dollars in “subprime” loans to often un-creditworthy poor and minority customers…” support this legislation? Perhaps because it provides Chapter 13 Bankruptcy protections to homeowners who didn’t have the means to buy homes, and it protects people who put those borrowers into these high-risk mortgages.

Look at this bill and who it protects. It doesn’t just protect consumers, it protects groups like ACORN.

Durbin’s bill, co-sponsored by Obama, “amends federal bankruptcy law to permit a bankruptcy plan to: modify a [mortgage] secured by the principal residence of a chapter 13 debtor…” It “exempts” them “from the requirement for credit counseling if… that debtor…has been scheduled” for foreclosure. The credit counseling typically distinguishes debtors who, for instance, because of unforeseen medical bills have no alternatives but bankruptcy, from debtors who’ve recklessly or ruthlessly bought homes they couldn’t afford because, according to the Federal Trade Commission, it evaluates a person’s financial situation and discusses alternatives to avoid filing bankruptcy. If this bill becomes law, the “certificate of completion” a debtor receives after the credit counseling process would be waived. Anyone, with a single home, could file Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.

One benefit for filing Chapter 13 is a person is protected from creditors and allowed to keep their real estate and personal property. Another advantage is some debts are discharged that otherwise wouldn’t be under other Bankruptcy Chapters, such as fraud judgments.

Under Chapter 13, the monthly payments are determined by the amount a debtor can afford after paying normal living expenses. That amount is dispersed among their creditors typically “over 3-years” but no more than “5-years.” At the end, the debtor is discharged from their debts, regardless of how much their creditors were paid and the remaining debt is sloughed off eventually underwritten by taxpayers.

Obviously this bill goes beyond Obama’s or McCain’s plans for bailing out homeowners. There is more to this bill. It can be found in the fine print of the bill. The fine print is the reason why ACORN strongly supports it.

Notice now, another key reason why groups like ACORN support this legislation because it: “Prohibits the court from allowing a claim that is subject to any remedy for damages or rescission due to failure to comply with the Truth in Lending Act or any other state or federal consumer protection law.”

The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) was designed to create “economic stabilization and competition by informed use of credit by consumers (emphasis added).” Under TILA the law also applies “to persons who are not creditors but who provide applications for home equity plans to consumers.” This bill absolves organizations of any guilt or culpability under TILA; perhaps the same organizations who intimidated and bullied banks into providing risky loans to unqualified borrowers like ACORN.

If this legislation does not pass, then these “persons who are not creditors,” could face “criminal penalties” for “willful and knowing violations of TILA,” which could result in a “fine of $5,000, imprisonment for up to one year, or both.”

And one other reason this bill is bad because it uncovers something else. These groups that are violating the nature of the TILA should be criminally prosecuted because their fraudulent and criminal activities hurt consumers. Read more:

But there’s more. The Department of Housing and Urban Development reportedly found that “five million illegal aliens hold illegal mortgages.” Who arranged these illegal mortgages?

Now we know another reason ACORN endorses some politicians like Obama. He is trying to cover their butts. Why? “This bill absolves organizations of any guilt or culpability under TILA; perhaps the same organizations who intimidated and bullied banks into providing risky loans to unqualified borrowers like ACORN“.

Update:

Here is a list of the sponsor and co-sponsors:

S. 2136: Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2008

Sponsor

Sen. Richard Durbin [D-IL]

Cosponsors [as of 2008-09-27]

Sen. Joseph Biden [D-DE]
Sen. Barbara Boxer [D-CA]
Sen. Sherrod Brown [D-OH]
Sen. Hillary Clinton [D-NY]
Sen. Christopher Dodd [D-CT]
Sen. Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]
Sen. Thomas Harkin [D-IA]
Sen. John Kerry [D-MA]
Sen. Robert Menéndez [D-NJ]
Sen. Barack Obama [D-IL]
Sen. John Reed [D-RI]
Sen. Charles Schumer [D-NY]
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI]

Note: Biden and Obama are both trying to protect ACORN. Ya’ think maybe Biden was wrong when he said that Team Obama had no connections to Obama. In a word. YES.