[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 42 (Tuesday, April 12, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1856]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




REPUBLICAN BANKRUPTCY BILL MEANS FALSE HOPE AND ENDLESS DEBT BURDEN FOR 
                               AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the Republican majority today or tomorrow 
will put before this House and the American people a WMD, a Weapon of 
Mass Debt. They call it the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Prevention 
Act of 2005. This legislation is as far away from protecting consumers 
as a snake oil salesman pitching an elixir to cure all of your ills.
  This legislation should be called the Credit Card Company Enslavement 
Act of 2005. It does not help the American people. It was conceived by 
the credit card people for the credit card people and packaged by their 
Republican surrogates for one reason and one reason only: to entrap 
low- and middle-income Americans.
  As always with this Republican majority, if you are rich, do not 
worry, they have your back covered. But for every other American, you 
are the payoff for special interests and corporate greed. Disguise 
legislation with a phony name and let them clean your clock over and 
over and over again.
  Debt, and pain and suffering associated with economic enslavement, 
has been a major concern throughout recorded history. The Bible speaks 
about debt in the books of Exodus, Micah, Amos, Nehemiah, Romans, 
Kings, and Deuteronomy, among others. I could go on all day long with 
that. That is a lot of spiritual guidance.
  So what is this all about? Economic justice is what the Bible 
preached, knowing full well that debt bound a person tighter than any 
chain, enslaving hope as it extracted money. For thousands of years, 
spiritual leaders, including John Paul, have preached a gospel of 
economic justice for people throughout the world. Instead, today we are 
expected to pander to corporate greed while we deny social 
responsibility.
  I personally am not going to go for it. The legislation before us is 
about grinding people into the dirt. It is not a fresh start, but false 
hope and an endless debt burden.
  The Republican majority today would like us to condone stripping 
people of all of their worldly possessions and then denying them the 
right to hope to make a new life for themselves and their loved ones.
  Here are some facts behind the fraud the Republican majority has in 
front of us: Ninety percent of those filing for bankruptcy protection 
are doing so because of losing a job, a medical emergency, or the 
breakup of a family. Half the personal bankruptcies in America today 
are because of illness or unpaid medical bills.
  What are the President and Republican majority doing about health 
care? Nothing, nada, zippo. They have not touched it for the last 4 
years, and they will pander to the special interests over the next 4 
years. After all, people without health care do not go to those fancy 
Republican fund-raisers. They go to the emergency room when they cannot 
avoid illness any longer.
  Mr. Speaker, 45 million Americans have no health care and no hope 
from this administration, and 1.6 million American households filed for 
bankruptcy last year. That is one measure of the President's economic 
program he is not talking much about. The rich get richer and the poor 
get outed.
  Divorced women are 300 percent more likely than a single or married 
woman to file for bankruptcy because of the consequences of divorce, 
from lower wages to the financial strain of raising children alone. So 
much for Republican family values.
  African American and Hispanics are 500 percent more likely than white 
homeowners to end up in bankruptcy court because of discrimination in 
everything from mortgage costs, to hiring, to wages. It is real, and 
the Republican majority would like us to look the other way.
  More older Americans are filing for bankruptcy because they are being 
forced out of their jobs, cannot find new ones that pay when they were 
earning, and they are victims of runaway health costs.

                              {time}  1300

  But wait, there is even more. Credit card companies are an equal-
opportunity scourge. This environment inundates students, the working 
poor and middle America with dozen of offers for more credit cards and 
more debt every week. How many offers have you received in the mail or 
on the phone this week, 3, 4, 5? The marketing is not aggressive. It is 
predatory. They tempt you with offers that promise anything and 
everything. Pre-approved, pre-authorized, platinum, gold, silver. The 
truth is, the credit cards are not made of plastic. They are made out 
of lead, and they are hung around your neck like a yoke.
  Does this so-called consumer protection action do anything to address 
predatory credit card marketing? Nothing, nada, zippo.
  So what exactly are the Republicans proposing? This bill allows 
millionaires to shelter their assets in bankruptcy by protecting an 
unlimited amount of value in their residences.
  What about child support?
  Well, the Republicans have a real deal for you. This bill, their 
bill, would force women and children who are owed child support to 
fight with the credit card companies in court for the money. Given the 
Republican knack for words, they will probably call this a social 
safety net. And on and on it goes. Vote ``no'' on this bankruptcy bill. 
It is bankrupt.

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