Legislation designed to stem foreclosures by allowing bankruptcy judges to erase some mortgage debt will be introduced by Congressional Democrats on Tuesday, and hopes are high that it will pass after a similar plan failed last year.

Democrats in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate plan to introduce the legislation.

A similar plan failed in the Senate last spring as President George W. Bush and many Republican lawmakers opposed it, but supporters of what has been dubbed 'mortgage cram-down' believe that they will prevail as the housing crisis has deepened and President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office.

Washington Post