The brother of U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler has filed for bankruptcy, according to the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel.

Benjie Shuler filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection last week, the paper reported today. It said that the filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Knoxville indicated that his assets are valued at $265,630 while his liabilities are valued at nearly $10.2 million, Barb Barrett reports.

According to the News Sentinel, Benjie Shuler's bankruptcy filing identified Heath Shuler as a co-debtor on a $36,670 debt to Bank of America. Rep. Shuler is a Democrat from Waynesville.

As soon as U.S. Rep. Brad Miller was sworn in for his fourth term in Congress this week, he reintroduced his measure to protect struggling homeowners from foreclosure.

Miller's bankruptcy bill, called The Emergency Homeownership and Equity Protection Act, allows bankruptcy judges to alter the terms of mortgages for those homeowners facing foreclosure who are in subprime mortgages.

The mortgage industry has tried to work on voluntary changes to subprime mortgages where homeowners face foreclosure, but Miller says that hasn’t worked.

"The reforms made by my bill are not only about sound public policy, but also basic fairness," Miller said in a statement. "Voluntary modifications from the mortgage industry are not working and they are not even touching the foreclosure problem."

Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, introduced the measure last Congress, but it faced strong opposition from the banking and mortgage industry and didn’t pass.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh held a news conference in Washington today to promote legislation that would allow home mortgages to be restructured in bankruptcy like other types of personal debt.

Miller appeared at the Capitol Visitors Center with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois and representatives of a coalition of groups supporting the measure, including AARP, AFL-CIO, NAACP, Consumers Union and other civil rights, union and consumer groups.

The two said they would make passage of their bill, The Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act, the first priority of the new Congress, according to Miller's office.

Durbin introduced the bill in October 2007, and Miller introduced a similar bill. Miller's office said he and Durbin, both Democrats, tried over the past year to pass the proposal over the resistance of the Mortgage Bankers of America and Senate Republicans.

"Middle-class families have seen their life’s savings evaporate with the collapse in the value of their homes," Miller said at the press conference. "We are not going to stop the downward spiral of our economy until we stop the collapse of home values. And, we are not going to stop the collapse of home values until we get control of foreclosures."

One in 10 homeowners, or roughly 4.6 million, are either delinquent in their mortgage payments or are in the process of foreclosure, Miller's office said.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller wants to help people declaring bankruptcy rewrite the terms of their home loans. 

During a meeting of the Northern Raleigh Rotary Club today, the Raleigh Democrat talked about a bill he sponsored that would allow judges to modify the mortgages of homeowners who declare Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Judges can already modify debts related to vacation homes and cars.

"Allowing people to modify their mortgages the same way they modify a mortgage on a vacation home, a mortgage on investment property, a car loan will allow 600,000 families to keep their home," Miller said.

The bill passed the Judiciary Committee but has not been voted on by the House. A similar bill is making its way through the Senate with the support of Democratic majority leader Harry Reid.

"I think Democrats won two years ago because people wanted a Congress that would stand up to special interest groups," Miller said. "This is the kind of fight that the American people want us to fight and not walk away from."

* Commissioner of Banks reports that absence of payday lending in North Carolina has not hurt residents who face financial shortfalls. (W-SJ)

* Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue visits the Gateway Technology Center in Rocky Mount at the urging of state Rep. Joe Tolson to learn about high-tech training. (Rocky Mount Telegram)

* U.S. Rep. Brad Miller has proposed letting bankruptcy judges amend the terms of home mortgages to stave off foreclosures. (The Nation)

* Gov. Mike Easley writes letter to Congressional leaders asking for them to start making payments on the "Road to Nowhere" in Swain County. (AC-T)

The House Judiciary Committee plans to take up U.S. Rep. Brad Miller’s bankruptcy bill as soon as this week.

Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, and Democratic Rep. Linda Sanchez of California co-sponsored the legislation, which aims to keep about 600,000 homeowners from losing homes purchased under sub-prime lending rates, reports Barb Barrett.

In the Senate, Democrat Richard Durbin of Illinois and Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania each have bankruptcy bills as well. Miller said Friday his House version is a good compromise between their ideas.

“I’m thinking of sliding my bill between them,” he said.

U.S. Reps. Brad Miller of Raleigh and Linda Sanchez of California have submitted legislation they hope will curb home bankruptcies and protect borrowers with sub-prime home loans on their principal residences.

The bill would allow bankruptcy courts to modify the terms of a home loan, Barb Barrett reports.

It also would prevent lending companies from adding fees or other debts to a borrower while a bankruptcy case is pending in court, unless the borrower is given "timely notice" of the fee.

The bill, called the Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act of 2007, will be the subject of a news conference by Miller on Thursday on Capitol Hill. Among the sponsors is Democratic Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte.