Bill Pascrell: “you would not even exempt our brothers and sisters coming back from war, and you want me to believe that this is…”

“you would not even exempt our brothers and sisters coming back from war, and you want me to believe that this is reasonable legislation? Rising debt levels in turn reflect a shift in our economy away from a time when families could afford to save and into a time when their wages are stagnant. The costs of their health premiums increased 163 percent since 1988. Their tuitions have increased 170 percent. Their mortgages, their child care. This is not a stable economy. They are not crooks. They are not evil people. The American Bankruptcy Institute says that 96.3 percent of the people filing Chapter 7 just do not have the money. Now we are not saying forget about all of this, but we are saying let us be reasonable. Who should we help? Who should be first on the list of congressional priorities? The families who are in financial straits or the credit card companies who made a record $30 billion in profits last year and whose profits have soared almost triple in the last decade? This legislation does nothing to put caps on interest rates or late fees or the overtime limits and other penalties, even those among reasonable people.”