We gave a lot of attention recently to Democratic Party efforts to get a home foreclosure bill through the Congress. While it was approved by the House, it is on hold in the Senate.
For a variety of reasons - mainly that backers are far short on votes - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office has made clear the foreclosure bill isn't on the schedule as of now.
Not until after Easter is the word at this point.
The troubles are multiple. First, there is the battle over allowing bankruptcy judges to rejigger a mortgage, the so-called cramdown provision.
That was watered down some in the House and will have to be watered down even more in the Senate to have any chance.
In fact, some Senators want it to apply only to certain subprime mortgages and not generally, which has angered some key Democrats.
"We want to find a compromise," said Sen. Charles Schumer D-New York in a written statement, "but we will not water down this proposal for the sake of picking up a few additional votes."
Those are tough words, especially when you need 60 votes, and don't have them.
It goes to show once again that even when one party holds all the levers of power in Washington, D.C., it doesn't mean that "change" is going to occur.
Of course, there is a good side and a bad side to that reality.
On one hand, it ensures that no one just sweeps everything to the side on an issue.
On the other hand, it emboldens those who oppose change, just because it's change.
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