With foreclosures mounting and few viable alternatives emerging from Congress or the banking industry, Sen. Dick Durbin's mortgage modification reform bill is looking better each and every day. In an interview with Think Progress, Illinois' senior senator said that while he's open to compromises, his bill is gaining support in the Senate and is still a viable option:

August is also a make-or-break month for the Obama administration's health care push, something Durbin has been working hard to pass. After liberal and conservative Democrats in the House Energy and Commerce Committee struck a deal on Friday night, overcoming ideological differences to approve a bill similar to the one that cruised through the other two major committees in the lower chamber,  the White House is hoping to use the recess to make "the moral argument" for reform. Central to that effort will be a renewed emphasis on new legislation that would outlaw some unpopular and immoral insurance industry practices, like refusing patients with pre-existing conditions or rescinding coverage to those with expensive illnesses. 

The insurance industry won't be vacationing. The Wall Street Journal reports that America's Health Insurance Plans, the insurance industry's primary lobbying organization, has already hired employees in 30 states who are "tracking where local lawmakers hold town-hall meetings." They are then dispatching grassroots conservatives to make their voices heard at the public forums. Later in the Think Progress interview, Sen. Durbin expessed confidence that his colleagues “won’t fall for a sucker-punch" in the form of astro-turf organizing and will voice strong support for comprehensive reform. Watch it: