Bankruptcy Bill Revisited

On Monday, the new Bankruptcy Bill took effect. Written and paid for by the Credit Card industry, it hammers middle class families who find themselves in financial trouble. Over 90% of bankruptcies come from medical bills, loss of a job, family breakup, or a combination of the three. There was an amendment presented which would exempt those who filed bankruptcy due to natural disasters. That amendment was voted down.

You would expect Republicans to vote for the bill. You would be right. You would expect Democrats to vote against it. You would be wrong. Most did, but 18 senators did not (Hillary Clinton snaked out by not voting at all). Thankfully, my two senators voted against it. But the 18 who voted for it are done for me. If any of them run for President (at least two of them, Joe Biden and Evan Bayh, have presidential ambitions), I will not vote for them.

There are issues that I can disagree on with a fellow Democrat and still support them. This is not one of them. This is cut and dry. This is kicking someone when they are down.

Among the ironies is that one of the 18 is Mary Landrieu, Democrat from Louisiana. Think any Katrina victims will need bankruptcy protection? This might make it impossible for a middle class family who lost everything to do so. The vote was taken far before Katrina, but senators should have some sort of foresight. And Democrats should be working to protect citizens in any case.

I’m curious to see if suicide rates increase over the next year.

Here are the 18 spineless Democrats you should never support for President (bold represents high profile Democrats who should be doubly ashamed of themselves):

Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
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)