The Middle Class Supports the Durbin Amendment and Opposes this vote to kill the amendment. The federal government and the mortgage industry’s failure to address the subprime mortgage and foreclosure crisis adequately could result in as many as 1.9 million Americans losing their homes in 2008 and 2009. Despite national awareness of the dire situation throughout 2007, foreclosure filings increased 60% from February 2007 to February 2008. Extending the same bankruptcy protections to primary residences that currently apply to luxury yachts and vacation homes is not only fair, but would prevent 600,000 families from losing their homes to foreclosure. Strengthened bankruptcy protection is also beneficial to middle-class families who are not themselves facing foreclosure: protecting these 600,000 families from foreclosure would save neighbors of foreclosed properties $72.5 billion in wealth that would otherwise be lost to reduced property values. Because the Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Amendment restricts eligibility for bankruptcy mortgage restructuring to homeowners who are unable to afford currently existing mortgages, mortgage interest rates should not increase: only homes in danger of foreclosure will qualify and the risk of foreclosure is already calculated into current interest rates. The “homestead floor” of $75,000 for homeowners over the age of 55 who are in bankruptcy allows older middle-class Americans to protect a minimum amount of investments they have made in their homes, while preventing wealthy Americans from using large estates to shelter money from creditors.