Child support in jeopardy with Bankruptcy Bill : vote is tomorrow!

Deadbeat parents will be able to charge on their cards willy-nilly, and the children will have to fight with the credit card companies to get money for food, clothing, shelter.
Please TAKE JUST 5 MINUTES TODAY to protect the children. You need only say that you object to this horrendous provision of the bankruptcy bill.
find your senators numbers here: www.senate.gov

Subject: Putting the credit card companies ahead of children

Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 11:57:18 -0500
CONSUMER RIGHTS
Charge the Senate
This week the credit card industry - which raked in $30 billion in profits last year - storms the Congress in an attempt to squeeze a few more dimes from Americans who are sick or out of work. Starting today the Senate will consider a bill (S. 256) that would amend bankruptcy law to "make it harder for families struck by financial misfortune to get back on track." (Nine out of 10 bankruptcies "are triggered by the loss of a job, high medical bills or divorce.) The bill is supported in Congress by a bipartisan coalition on the credit industry dole. They think they can pass the bill without the American people noticing. Prove them wrong. Write your senators and tell them to reject the legislation in its current form.

MORE UNNECESSARY BUREAUCRACY: The bankruptcy bill is an attempt to prevent people from filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy - which gives people a clean slate - and make them file under Chapter 13, which requires continued payments to the credit card companies. In order to qualify for Chapter 7, Americans would be forced to complete a costly and bureaucratic means test. This additional red tape is almost completely unnecessary. According to a study commissioned by the nonpartisan American Bankruptcy Institute, 96.4 percent of people who file Chapter 7 can't afford to pay anything more. The real intent of the legislation is not to prevent people from abusing the system but to make it so burdensome to become eligible for Chapter 7 that people who would qualify can't afford it.

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LIKE TAKING MONEY FROM A BABY: There is seemingly no limit to the depths to which the credit industry will go to seek an extra buck. The bill they are trying to push through Congress threatens the welfare of children by endangering child support. If a custodial parent is owed child support from someone declaring bankruptcy, the parent will be forced to fight with other creditors (like auto lenders) for the debtor's limited income - even after the bankruptcy is completed.


GIVING MILLIONAIRES A PASS: The bill on the Senate floor right now doesn't stop some of the worst abuses of our bankruptcy system. In several states - including the president's home in Texas - a multimillionaire can declare bankruptcy, avoid his debts, and still keep his palatial estate. We've seen it happen time and again: for example, "Marvin Warner, a former ambassador to Switzerland and the owner of a failed Ohio Savings & Loan, who paid off only a fraction of $300 million in bankruptcy claims while keeping his multi-million-dollar horse ranch near Ocala, Florida." Another example: "Dallas developer, Talmadge Wayne Tinsley, who filed under chapter 7 after incurring $60 million in debts. Tinsley objected to the Texas law that permitted him to keep only one acre of his $3.5 million, 3.1-acre magnolia-lined estate. But that acre included a five-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bath mansion with two studies, a pool and a guest house." The 2001 bankruptcy bill at least stopped these abuses by capping the so-called "homestead exemption" at $125,000. This bill has a complicated exemption that will allow "wealthy debtors who are sophisticated enough to plan ahead - and those are, after all, the people we are talking about - can purchase a homestead to shelter their non-exempt assets and simply wait <49 months> before filing their petition." (Share your thoughts about the bankruptcy bill on ThinkProgress.org)

THE WRONG BILL AT THE WRONG TIME: The bill, which would make it harder for people to recover from financial problems, comes at exactly the wrong time. More Americans families are struggling because median income is stagnant, health care costs are skyrocketing, college tuition has exploded and child care costs are up. Once families are hit with big medical bills or family members lose their jobs, bankruptcy is often their only option. (For more on this issue, see this American Progress report.)
UNCHECKED ABUSE BY CREDIT CARD INDUSTRY: The surge in bankruptcies has been brought on, in no small part, by the credit industry's own predatory lending practices. In 2001, credit card companies sent 5 billion solicitations for credit to American homes. Between 1993 and 2000, the industry increased credit extended to the public from $777 billion to almost $3 trillion. Once the consumer accepts, the companies are allowed to change their interest rates at any time for any reason. Many follow a practice of "universal default" which means any drop in your credit score - which can be triggered by missing a single payment on your electric bill - can lead to a significant rate increase.
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that our representatives DO NOT REPRESENT US. They are firmly in the pockets of big business.

http://dailykos.com/story/2005/3/6/63144/06015

The Bankruptcy Bill Examined

The details of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 reveal it to be a bill crafted as a Republican paean to MBNA, the largest single contributor to the Republican party. Far from being either an effort to stem "Bankruptcy Abuse" or an effort at "Consumer Protection", the bill is in fact an attempt to rewrite bankruptcy laws to reduce the ability of those laws to protect consumers from predatory lending practices on the part of MBNA members, and to stiffen the capabilities of those corporations to collect from consumers already suffering from extreme financial hardships.

The "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005" will almost certainly pass, absent a filibuster -- and at present, it is questionable whether Democrats would have the votes for a filibuster. Nevertheless, it is instructive to examine the structure and proposed amendments to this bill, to examine exactly how insistent Republicans are in passing this bill while blocking all Democratic efforts to protect even the most at-risk consumers.

On the Democratic-sponsored amendments discussed below (you can learn a lot from the Role Call Vote Summary, which lists each Amendment to S.256), the voting was consistent. Not even one Republican voted against party lines. Three Democrats consistently voted with the Republicans:

Sen. Nelson (D - Nebraska)
Sen. Johnson (D - South Dakota)
Sen. Carper (D - Delaware)

Also frequently voting with the Republicans:

Sen. Biden (D - Delaware)

Congress ::

The "Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection" in this bill occurs for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies - individual avenues of bankruptcy. Conspicuous in absence, evidently not needing reform, are Chapter 11 bankruptcies.

Want to guess what Chapter 11 covers?

You guessed it. Chapter 11 is bankruptcy for businesses:

((( Don't forget to cancel your MBNA credit card and tell them why!)))

a shower.If this passes (and that looks to be all but assured),maybe
we should boycott credit card issuers, hold card-burnings, etc...