WASHINGTON – The Senate's No. 3 Democrat said today there is a“decent'' chance his chamber will pass Sen. Mark Udall's bill toraise the cap on member business lending to as much as 27.5% ofassets.

“If you believe in small business lending why not increase thecap? As I understand it the initial cap was an arbitrary number andthere hadn't been one before,'' Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) saidin response to a question from Credit Union Times at anevent sponsored by Politico.

Schumer is a co-sponsor of the bill, sponsored by Udall(D-Colo.), which would raise the cap from 12.25% to as much as27.5%.

Reps. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) arescheduled to introduce a companion bill in the House sometimethis week.

Schumer, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said there is“momentum'' for legislation that would delay the implementation ofthe Federal Reserve's rule regulating debit interchange.

“It [the amendment sponsored by Senate Majority Whip RichardDurbin authorizing the Fed to regulate interchange] was passedrather quickly and you didn't have all the hearings on it that youhad on the rest of the [financial overhaul bill] bill,'' Schumeradded.

He predicted there will be a vote on the bill to delayimplementation, which is sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.),but didn't indicate how he would vote.

Schumer, Durbin and Rep. George Miller (D-Calf.) share a houseon Capitol Hill owned by Miller.