Seventeen Democratic senators voted for the Bankruptcy Abuse and Prevention Act of 2005. I’ll list them here to shame them:
1. Baucus (D-MT), 2. Bayh (D-IN), 3. Biden (D-DE), 4. Bingaman (D-NM), 5. Byrd (D-WV), 6. Carper (D-DE), 7. Conrad (D-ND), 8. Inouye (D-HI), 9. Johnson (D-SD), 10. Kohl (D-WI), 11. Landrieu (D-LA), 12. Lincoln (D-AR), 13. Nelson (D-FL), 14. Nelson (D-NE), 15. Pryor (D-AR), 16. Reid (D-NV), 17. Salazar (D-CO)
You can read Barack Obama’s floor speech opposing this travesty of a bill here. Let’s have a sample:
With this bill, it doesn’t matter if you ran up your debt on a trip to Vegas or a trip to the Emergency Room, you’re still treated the same under the law and you still face the possibility that you’ll never get the chance to start over.
Now, it would be one thing if most people were abusing the system and falling into bankruptcy because they were irresponsible with their finances. But we know that’s not the case. We know that most people fall into bankruptcy as a result of bad luck. And we know that a recent Harvard study showed that nearly half of all bankruptcies occur because of an illness that ends up sticking families with medical bills they just can’t keep up with.
How much truer is that statement today than it was in 2005 (when it was also true)? But seventeen Democrats enabled this legislation which is now devastating families all across the country. And it isn’t just that they voted for it that is damaging. It’s also damaging for this reason (and note that John McCain cannot count).
“Eighteen Democrats and John McCain worked together on the bipartisan Senate Bankruptcy Bill and Barack Obama’s rigid partisanship and self-promoting political attacks show that he’s a typical politician – which is the problem in Washington, not the solution.”
I’m assuming that John McCain reached the number eighteen by counting independent senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont as a Democrat. Regardless, these seventeen Democrats enabled McCain to claim that his vote for the bankruptcy bill wasn’t some mean-spirited attack on the unlucky but a bipartisan consensus vote to punish those that game the system. Obama’s message is thereby diluted.
Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed changing bankruptcy laws to “fast-track” the process for military families, help seniors keep their homes, and protect people recovering from natural disasters.
The Democratic presidential hopeful also accused Republican rival John McCain of repeatedly siding with the banking industry, saying, “When it comes to strengthening the safety net for hardworking families, he’s been part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
Like on so many issues during the Bush years, a minority of Democrats who cave in on issues of principle wind up diminishing the Democratic Party’s brand and enabling the Republicans to hide under the cover of bipartisanship. That is why it is now necessary to target bad Democrats for defeat wherever it is remotely possible.
