Reid is now saying that he might drop cram down provisions from the housing bill if it threatens passage of the whole package.

Basically, this means that he is going to kill it, because everyone who wants it gone now knows that they can get it dropped by whining.

Seeing as how this was the law until about 1993, the effect on interest rates are minimal, and it’s the only way to renegotiate a mortgage that has been sliced and diced until it has hundreds of owners, cramdown is the single best thing that can be done to help with the current financial meltdown.