Dick Durbin: “I think people living in Illinois are some of the luckiest people in the world. I think it is a wonderful State. I am…”

“I think people living in Illinois are some of the luckiest people in the world. I think it is a wonderful State. I am proud to represent it. But for Joyce Owens' situation, if she faced the same tragedy with her family and they lived in Florida, Texas, or Kansas, she could keep her home. You may say, why? Well, because the States have different standards-- all the States. What Senator Kennedy says is, this is national legislation, and we should have a national standard to protect families' homes when they face a medical crisis. In my State, you cannot protect much, if any, of a home. That is why Joyce Owens will be paying off these bills and facing debt collectors and harassment the rest of her natural life. She has no way out. The Senator is exactly right; if you happen to live in one of these three States, you hit the jackpot. Bowie Kuhn--do you remember that name?-- former Commissioner of Baseball. A prosperous man, right? Well, he got pretty deeply in debt one day, so he decided to take all of his assets and buy a mansion in Florida and file for bankruptcy. He filed for bankruptcy and got out from under his debts, but they let him keep his multimillion-dollar mansion in Florida. Bowie Kuhn got to keep his mansion. Joyce Owens cannot even keep her home to try to care for her quadriplegic son.”