On the recordMay 13, 2021
Let me thank the chairwoman, the gentlewoman from California for yielding. Mr. Speaker, this is a stupendous effort, and I did not want to miss the opportunity to speak on behalf of my constituents, for debt blocks you from living your life as a family, as a recent college graduate, as a veteran, and as an enlisted person. All of these people are in my congressional district. Texas has the highest number of military personnel. Have you ever had them come into your house, excuse me, into your office--sometimes it is like my house because I live there, almost--and tell you about the inability to access credit, or the eviction notice, or the repossessing of the car, and therefore, impacting on their credit, but more importantly, being threatened to lose benefits by outside debt collectors. So the legislation here, and might I rise to oppose the amendments that are en bloc at this time, but I thought it was important to be able to discuss the importance of this particular combination of legislation that goes to the very needs and hearts of our district by prohibiting the use of confession of judgment as an unfair credit practice, and providing the opportunity, as I said, to ensure that we are protecting those individuals that are military. According to the CFPB, in the past year, debt collection accounted for 27 percent of all complaints received, 49 percent of which were for attempts to collect a debt not owed. During COVID-19 people suffered economically.…
