First the House, Now the Senate
Senator Feingold and 15 cosponsors have introduced legislation similar to that introduced yesterday in the House. The proposal is straightforward: delay the bankruptcy for hurricane victims, and make permanent amendments to the bankruptcy laws to give more leeway for courts to deal with the victims of natural disasters. A little help for people who will be struggling hard to get back on their feet.
Maybe it is time to start getting active on the bankruptcy bill again. When I was on Al Franken yesterday, he had asked his listeners to call Congress about the bill introduced by Representatives Nadler, Conyers and Jackson-Lee. He said on the air that by 1:30, more than 5,000 calls had been logged.
It seems that there are some good people in Washington who think that holding the Katrina victims hostage to a law written by the credit industry lobbyists is not in the spirit of disaster relief.
I don't know what everyone's worried about. There are plenty of jobs for hard-working evacuees out there, some with international travel perks.
September 9, 2005 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
The fact that Katrina's victims are going to be let off the bankruptcy bill hook just points out once again how the motivation of the bill was always to punish "bad" people. FEMA's, excuse me, Katrina's victims can be exempt because they are blameless. Everyone else who files for bankruptcy, therefore, must be blameworthy.
September 9, 2005 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hopefully the debate over exempting Katrina's victims will spark a broader debate over the new rules.
When people see that those along the Gulf Coast were allowed some leniency because of events out of their control, they may consider other "acts of god" that can leave themselves and others vulnerable to the harsh reality of the new rules.
A slip on stairs that results in a broken limb and the loss of a job may not invoke the wide-spread and deserved empathy that a hurricane wiping out your job, city and everything you own evokes, but the end results can be the same. In fact, the same people are most vulnerable in both situations.
Given that our political leadership has encouraged Americans to balance on the sharp edge of debt, they should recognize that they must provide some form of aid to those who slip.
September 9, 2005 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hopefully the debate over exempting Katrina's victims will spark a broader debate over the new [bankruptcy] rules.
Given the way the Republican Congressional leadership works, if they decide it's not a good idea to fight this relief provision, they'll quietly slip it into some Gulf Coast reclamation omnibus-type bill -- maybe at page 534.
It's doubtful there'll ever be a debate.
September 9, 2005 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's doubtful there'll ever be a debate.
It is doubtful that the Republicans would be so short-sighted as to get in the way of providing exceptions for Katrina's victims. Yet it is unlikely that Congressmen would provide relief for the hurricane victims, especially economic relief, and not try to wring some political points out of it as well.
A full debate may not be necessary, merely drawing attention to the situation may be enough to cause them to question their own situation.
September 10, 2005 12:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right. Perks that include sleeping in tents, MREs, riding in the back of a truck, and sometimes even lead bullets for breakfast. In a war that is ineffective at curbing terrorism, except to keep oil flowing. You know this whole thing started over the price of oil? (among other things) Osama blames the U.S. for supressing it. (See History Channel special on Osama)
I support our troops and admire their willingness to the call of duty. I'm just not sure I could take the job to fight for oil. We have our priorities mixed up. We have the technology to move beyond it, affordably.
September 12, 2005 8:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ellen,
Sorry, I forgot to mention the pay isn't enough to help solve the financial problems of the losses people suffered in Katrina. It is barely enough to survive. Sorry, the Army isn't a job - it's volunteer work.
We need to try to get this bankruptcy law repealed. Write your congressmen once a week until it is.
September 12, 2005 8:25 AM | Reply | Permalink