On Sept. 23rd, the Bush Administration went before Congress to try and hasten the process of a $700 billion rescue of the financial market, or in other words Wall Street. However, many feel that Congress is overlooking some of the real victims in need of dire assistance, that should be helped prior to Wall Street. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the AARP, and the Center for Responsible Lending, worked together with Candace Weaver, a troubled homeowner, in a press call to try and remind Congress about the homeowners that are losing their homes on a daily basis. They want the proposal to also include a bankruptcy provision that would give bankruptcy judges the ability to reset mortgages for families that are teetering on the edge of foreclosure.

Nancy Zirkin, the Executive VP for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said that, “As long as American families are losing their homes to foreclosure, Wall Street will continue to lose money,... “The only way that we can make Wall Street healthy again is by helping struggling homeowners meet their mortgage obligations and keep their homes,”.The bill being worked on by Congress and the Bush Administration will only in a sense temporarily assist Wall Street, as it wont take care of the many homeowners that are and perhaps soon will lose their homes. This opinion is seconded by Martin Eakes, the CEO of the Center for Responsible Lending and founder of Self-Help. “The bailout proposal will turn its back on the 6.5 million homes that will be lost to foreclosure over the next few years, and this will risk the entire health of the homeowning sector,...Right now, Congress has the power to implement a solution that will stop the foreclosure epidemic,...A bailout will not work to stabilize the economy if it doesn’t address home foreclosures and falling home prices,”.

Bertha Lewis, the interim chief organizer of ACORN, went on further in the conference to say that, “The message here is clear in that the government needs to aid the victims, and not just bail out the predator,...We need to amend the bankruptcy laws because it is a myth that the banks are trying to work with mortgage lenders to modify mortgages,”.