Homework Assignment – Senate Bankruptcy Bill

Ok, so I’m a little late. The vote was in the latter half of last week, and I didn’t get this post up. But in case you haven’t heard:

The US Senate just handed your asses to the credit card companies. It is expected to pass in the House and Bush said he will sign it. This bill not only makes it harder regular folks to declare bankruptcy, it protects the assets of millionaires who run into financial trouble. It’s totally unfair. In fact, it’s so fucked up that even Feinstein and Lieberman voted against it! Poke around at the Senate site that shows the rejected amendments and you can really see how this is really aimed at us regular folks. (One of the rejected amendments proposed capping credit card interest rates at 30% and was defeated, you know because those poor credit card companies are barely scraping by.)Here’s how the Senators voted:

BAD DEMOCRATS
On the Democratic side, there were 18 Democratic Senators who voted “Yea” on the bill:

Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Byrd (D-WV)
Carper (D-DE)
Conrad (D-ND)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reid (D-NV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Stabenow (D-MI)

Remember these guys when they come up for reelection. If one of these guys is in your home state, your homework assignment is to send them a “thanks for nothing” note.

DEMOCRATS WITH SOME GOOD IN THEM
The “Nays” – note: no Republicans voted Nay
Akaka (D-HI)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Wyden (D-OR)

If your Senator is on this list, send them a thank you note, especially if your Senator is generally in need of guidance.

HILLARY CLINTON DIDN’T VOTE
Hillary couldn’t bring herself to vote, even though she was in Washington, and not with Bill undergoing surgery.

As a side note, here are the states with the highest bankruptcy rates. Just for fun, I put their Senators’ votes up there, too.

Utah: Bennett R - Y, Hatch R – Y
Tennessee: Alexander R – Y, Frist R – Y
Georgia: Chambliss R – Y, Isakson R – Y
Nevada: Ensign R – Y, Reid R – Y
Indiana: Bayh D – Y, Lugar R – Y
Alabama: Sessions R – Y, Shelby R-Y
Arkansas: Lincoln D – Y, Pryor D - Y
Ohio: DeWine R- Y, Voinovich R - Y
Mississippi: Cochran R- Y, Lott R-Y
Idaho: Craig R- Y, Crapo R –Y

Interesting pattern. Did any of these guys run on bankruptcy reform as part of their campaigns? I’m betting they didn’t.