Earl Blumenauer: “for as long as I've been in Congress I have supported bankruptcy reform on two simple principles; I believe people…”

“for as long as I've been in Congress I have supported bankruptcy reform on two simple principles; I believe people should pay their debts, if they are able, and that we should end abuses in the system, whether by people who deliberately run up their bills or by businesses who exploit the gullible and the unfortunate. My first vote in favor of bankruptcy reform was cast with reservations because some of the provisions of the bill seemed unduly harsh, but I had hoped that the legislative process would ultimately improve the product. Unfortunately, for 8 years we have been unable to see the bill move through the legislative process and improve; it appears as though the bill, if anything, is actually less adequate due to increasing predatory lending by credit card companies and skyrocketing medical costs. One of my deep concerns has been credit card mills, which send out millions of credit cards to people who are not creditworthy. In 2001 there were 5 billion solicitations by credit card companies. Meanwhile, skyrocketing fees have been coupled with reduced minimum payments. Bait-and-switch techniques have been employed that change the terms and raise the interest rates of cardholders who have never missed a payment. While S. 256 contains overly harsh punishments for middle class Americans that have been preyed upon by the credit card industry, it preserves loopholes for the very rich. S.…”