Ellen Tauscher-CA 10 Needs to Hear From CA Residents On HR 200

This is a super easy action item. The House is voting on HR (House Resolution)200 tomorrow. This is Conyers' bill that allows homeowners to renegotiate the terms of their loans in bankruptcy court. As it currently stands, if you own a second home, fancy car, yacht or other such thing, that is something that may be renegotiated during bankruptcy. But not your primary residence. The laws are clearly designed for the wealthy and Conyers is trying to address that massive inequity by allowing those who are in crisis to have flexibility in the courts dealing with their mortgages. These types of modifications are often referred to as "cramdowns" (and if anyone knows why I'd be ever so grateful for an explanation).

Anyway, here is the action item. As Chris Bowers (via Calitics) writes:

Tomorrow, the House will vote on Representative Conyer's bankruptcy cram down. The whip count is unclear right now, but some Blue Dogs and New Democrats, including Melissa Bean (D-IL), Dennis Moore (D-KS), and New Democratic chair Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), are working on behalf of the financial services industry to water down the legislation. Tauscher in particular is problematic, both because of her leadership role in one of the ideological caucuses, and also because rumors are that she has organized up to two dozen members thus far. It is about time that Tauscher, and the Representatives she is organizing, stop listening to industry lobbyists who do not have the public interest in mind.

So, let's make Representative Tauscher listen to someone else right now. Contact Ellen Tauscher, and urge her to stop organizing other Democrats to water down HR 200. She needs to listen to honewoners, not to the financial industry that got us into this economic disaster.

Here is the contact information for Tauscher:

Email form

(California residents only)
D.C. office: 202.225.1880

It's super easy. I just sent an email. Sometimes just 20-30 people sending an email or making a phone call can have an enormous impact. Most of the time, they don't think anyone is watching. Let's make sure Ellen Tauscher knows we're watching.