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

“If you believe in small business lending why not increase the cap? As I understand it the initial cap was an arbitrary number and there hadn't been one before,'' Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in response to a question from Credit Union Times at an event 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 as 27.5%.

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

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

“It [the amendment sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin authorizing the Fed to regulate interchange] was passed rather quickly and you didn't have all the hearings on it that you had on the rest of the [financial overhaul bill] bill,'' Schumer added.

He predicted there will be a vote on the bill to delay implementation, 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 house on Capitol Hill owned by Miller.