[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 13, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S2265]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, 
    UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY BUREAU OF CONSUMER 
FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE RULE RELATING TO 
   ``DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES (REGULATION F); DECEPTIVE AND UNFAIR 
            COLLECTION OF MEDICAL DEBT''--Motion to Proceed

  Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 393, 
S.J. Res. 141.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 393, S.J. Res. 141, a 
     joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval 
     under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule 
     submitted by Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating 
     to the withdrawal of the rule relating to ``Debt Collection 
     Practices (Regulation F); Deceptive and Unfair Collection of 
     Medical Debt''.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There are 2 minutes of debate on the motion.
  Mr. WARNOCK. I rise today in support of my resolution to restore the 
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule restricting medical debt 
collections. This rule protected Americans from paying for medical 
services they did not receive or paying debt they already paid off.
  Medical debt leaves Americans in serious financial jams. It wrecks 
lives. Folks go to the doctor one day for a bandage or some minor 
injury and end up leaving with a financial burden the size of a 
mortgage. It could happen to any one of us.
  Georgia ranks among the top 10 States with the highest rates of 
medical debt, to the tune of $855 per Georgian, in large part because 
of the State's refusal to expand Medicaid. In fact, more than a quarter 
of rural Georgians have medical collections on their credit report--one 
in four--and that is 10 percentage points higher than the national 
average.
  Americans face more barriers as a result. Their mortgage costs 
increase. Their access to car loans can be restricted just because they 
got sick and went into debt for care.
  That is why I led 30 of my colleagues in a letter to the Trump 
administration defending the CFPB's work on protecting families from 
the consequences of medical debt. But the Trump administration's 
actions will make it easier for debt collectors to aggressively go 
after sick or struggling Americans and prey on families already saddled 
with medical debt. That is just cruel and unnecessary.
  I encourage my colleagues to vote yes on this resolution.
  I yield the floor.


                       Vote on Motion to Proceed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to 
proceed.
  Mr. WARNOCK. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  The result was announced--yeas 50, nays 50, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 122 Leg.]

                                YEAS--50

     Alsobrooks
     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt Rochester
     Booker
     Cantwell
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Fetterman
     Gallego
     Gillibrand
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kim
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lujan
     Markey
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schiff
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Slotkin
     Smith
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--50

     Armstrong
     Banks
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Boozman
     Britt
     Budd
     Capito
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Curtis
     Daines
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hoeven
     Husted
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Justice
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lummis
     Marshall
     McConnell
     McCormick
     Moody
     Moran
     Moreno
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Ricketts
     Risch
     Rounds
     Schmitt
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Sheehy
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Tuberville
     Wicker
     Young
  The motion was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The Senator from Indiana.

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