Update: Congress headed into its week-long Memorial Day recess during the last week of May after passing the Helping Families Save their Homes Act that was signed into law by the President as Public Law 111-22. While this legislation eases the eligibility for mortgage relief assistance, it unfortunately does not include a key provision that would have allowed mortgage relief through bankruptcy proceedings, a provision desperately needed in this mortgage foreclosure crisis! In the fight to address predatory lending practices, the House passed the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2009 (H.R.1728) that also establishes a Housing Counseling Office in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The bill awaits further action in the Senate.

Looking Ahead: Congress returns the first week in June to begin a full agenda until its month-long August recess. With the FY2010 Budget Resolution passed, and the President’s final detailed FY2010 budget proposals released in May, Congress will begin the tedious FY2010 appropriations process that will fund all federal agencies, including the Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, HUD, Transportation and Justice. The goal is to finalize funding levels by October 1, 2009 when the 2010 federal fiscal year begins. In addition, Congress is poised to seriously begin health care reform by introducing a health care bill in June. President Obama has made health care a top priority for this year! On the judicial front, the Senate will begin its deliberations on the President’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court.