Date: 2003-03-19
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding me this time. I rise in opposition to H.R. 975 because it is a harsh. onesided bill. As we all know. our country is in the midst of a very difficult economic period. According to the Department of Labors figures. the unemployment rate for February 2003 was .5.8 percent. Mr. Chairman. 308.000 people lost jobs in the last month alone. In addition. we have larger and largernumbers of military personnel being sent overseas in anticipation of a possible war with Iraq. They sacrifice theirt time and energy and put their lives at risk for the sake of our country. Many also sacrifice their salaries. Often. Reservists who are called up take a substantial cut in pay. Despite efforts to adjust their finances. some families will not be able to cover all of their costs. Those families may need to turn to the bankruptcy system. Ninety percent of all bankruptcies are triggered by one of the following three events: job loss. unforeseen medical expenses. or divorce. Yet the rules of this Draconian bill in H.R. 975 are so restrictive that people who really need the system are lumped together with people who have possibly abused the system in the past. Large numbers of groups oppose H.R. 975. Including the AFLCIO and the United Auto Workers. They are concerned that the harsh changes to Chapter 11 bankruptcies will cost jobs by forcing more businesses into liquidation. In addition. these groups are concerned that the bills consumer bankruptcy provisions will hurt people because it squeezes families so hard in favor of credit card companies. Opposition also comes from a whole host of groups concerned about women and children. while supporters of this bill argue that it has a series of provisions to assist women and children. If this were the case. then organizations such as the National Organization for Women. the California Womens Law Center. and the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support would all support the bill. In fact. they all oppose the bill. Mr. Chairman. H.R. 975 does much more harm than it does good for women and children. One of the worst aspects of this bill is the fact that it places women and childien in direct competition with mort aggressive creditors such as credit card companies. H.R. 975 is also opposed by groups concerned about minorities. senior citizens. and victims of crimes. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. the National Council of Senior Citizens. and the National Center for Victims of Crime are just a few of the organizations that have spoken out against this piece of legislation. Minorities are often subjected to (iscrimination in home mortgage lending and in hiring and firing decisions and are more highly targeted by predatory lending. As a result. minorities will more often be forced to consider the bankruptcy system as a means to stabilize their financial circumstances. The elderly face increased risk of job loss and catastrophic health care costs. again meaning that more of them will have to explore bankruptcy as a possible option. As for victims of crimes ana torts. the National Organization for Victim Assistance has noted. "More exempted creditors with rights to the same finite amount of resources means lower payments to all. Inevitably. for victim creditors. that means either a smaller return on the restitution owed. or a longer period of repayment. or both." Most troubling is the fact that this bill. which makes such severe change to debtors rights under the bankruptcy system. makes almost no changes whatsoever to creditors rights and responsibilities. This bill fails to address the fact that credit card companies solicit people who are not creditworthy in the first place. We should be instituting measures to ensure that the credit card companies do their homework before extending credit. We should require parental consent- before students under the age of 21 can obtain credit cards. unless there is evidence to show that the student is financially solvent. In fact. .the gentlewoman from California