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Let me raise an important issue that has received almost no attention in the talk of what to do in the lame duck session.
In the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, the feds authorized $35 million dollars to support legal aid programs, mostly nonprofits, that give assistance to struggling borrowers facing foreclosure. This authorization seemed like a good deal at the time, but wasn’t seen as consequential as it does today. These nonprofits and legal aid programs have been crucial to ferreting out foreclosure fraud. For borrowers already facing financial woes, they simply won’t have representation in the courts if they don’t secure the services of one of these types of legal aid programs.
But here’s the key point: the money was authorized, but not appropriated. The appropriation has still yet to be made. It could be tucked into virtually any bill that comes up in the lame duck session, but that’s probably its last hope. After that, Republicans gain control of the House, and John Boehner doesn’t strike me as a “let’s give money to poor people facing foreclosure so they can have good lawyers” type.
Legal aid foundations and nonprofits are already planning to shut their doors if they don’t get some help from this appropriation. They cannot continue without it. And the Congress has already passed the authorization.
If we’re going to get to the bottom of foreclosure fraud, we need good lawyers able to do the work of stopping the banks’ mad rush. They need to be able to scrutinize the documents, find flaws, question the standing to foreclose, and basically throw sand in the gears of the process. Pro bono lawyers discovered the robo-signing scandal. They have successfully defended homeowners from the rapacious banks. They need to keep going.
This $35 million dollar appropriation MUST be made. Any delay in the matter will disrupt the ability for homeowners to have due process and properly defend themselves. This calls for a “call your Senator” approach. I’ll be doing so to see if this pops up on anyone’s radar screen in the next couple days.
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Unfortunately, it appears that few politicians in DeeCee are willing to do even these limited actions to help others
Gods! Even legal aid is closing it’s doors!
How about getting Act Blue to do the petition?
You’re right, people already underwater have GOT to be able to legally fight this and get representation.
However, it looks like Congress doesn’t have much it want to get done…or it has too much to do when it gets back plus, there’s a recess tucked in there some place as well.
As in everything that goes on in DeCeit, these actions and requests to do something for the citizens of Amerika fall on purposely deaf ears.
I agree David, these agencies need to be funded, just like countless other organizations that might help the middle class, the poor, the unemployed and soon to be and already homeless, and just about any other person in this country that needs to have at least the minimum amount of compassion and care that they deserve and have worked for…BUT the ‘Dream’ is long DEAD!
The MOTU’s have their ‘perfected’ class warfare, and the politicians are gourging themselves on the ‘killing’of the working class, while the masters sit back in utter glee while they perversely masturbate to the agony they have created.
Meanwhile ObamaAss is in complete animation and intellectual orgasm, as the masters yank on his marionette strings to make sure the CatFood Commish puts another blood dripping nail into the writhing and dying corpse of Amerika, uttering in the last final acts of pure terrorism on it’s own citizentry, until the death camps are completed and stocked with gulag guards that will drive the last vestige of the Amerikan experiment into the squalid dustbin of history.
Simply…they (being the elite, MOTU, politician and corporate class of demons)…
DON”T GIVE A FUCK!
Conversations about using politics or any other useless scheme of persuasion is an utter waste of time that could be bettered employed to find alternative ways to protect your family, loved ones, and significant others while you still can.
You know what’s next. Next, some right wing nut job will call this money an *entitlement program*. One thing for sure, it absolutely is just another cost to the American people brought to you by bankers and their human extensions. The Banks and their Human Appendages aka senators, congressmen, etc. don’t want oversight. So you know, even if they don’t announce it , they will eventually pull this spicket and let home buyers, aka workers, drown if they don’t intend to stop it, and I don’t see that happening anywhere.
Will somebody go get Obama his Goldman Sachs employee name tag. If we, the American people, are putting out all this money for legal services to these *businesses’*”clients” then it is obvious that we, as a country, either think laws have been broken or that our banking system is dysfunctional to the degree of gross negligence. These worthless nanny baby relationships, with so called *captains of industry* who are allowed to destroy the lives of millions upon millions has reached a point non explainable chaos and human misery.
Those steering this ship are like a bunch of childish idiots that destroy like spoiled babies without a single thought to others. Their behavior is so childish, and base it boggles the mind. People better put a stop to it. We are letting dysfunctional arm chair know-it-alls destroy our lives and our country.
“If we’re going to get to the bottom of foreclosure fraud, we need good lawyers. . . .”
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If it’s fraud, then it’s a crime. Dial 911, call the cops. The justice department of our omnipotent government already has an army of lawyers to fight foreclosure fraud.