Corporate-Written Bankruptcy Laws May Be Good For The Careers Of Some Politicians But They're Terrible For America

In a month, Wall Street banksters will be able to celebrate the 7th anniversary one of their many signal victories over the American public, passage of the so-called Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. The House passed Chuck Grassley's S.256 on April 14, 2005 and it was meant to prevent ordinary American working families from seeking the kind of bankruptcy protections that the wealthy and that corporations use as a matter of course. It passed 302-125, with every single Republican voting for it and 73 conservative and/or corrupt Democrats going along for the ride. In a rational democracy, everyone who voted for it would have been defeated at the polls the next year. But even among Democrats-- 125 (+ independent Bernie Sanders) voted no)-- the bill was just glossed over and forgotten as soon as possible.

Donna Edwards used it to help defeat corrupt conservative Al Wynn, one of the Democrats who voted for it. But other than that... bupkis. Other Democrats who betrayed working families were defeated in the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse of 2010 (or resigned rather than face that ignominious end to a political career)-- like Chamber of Commerce shills Harold Ford (TN) and Melissa Bean (IL) and Blue Dogs Bart Gordon (TN), Marion Berry (AR), Lincoln Davis (TN), Earl Pomeroy (ND), John Salazar (CO), Charlie Melancon (LA), Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Allen Boyd (FL), etc.

But there are still scores of Republicans and a whole slew of Democrats still in Congress, still working against the interests of their own constituents, still shilling for Wall Street every single day. Earlier today we took a little look at corrupt corporate shill Steny Hoyer. He led the effort among Democrats to pass this for his pals in the credit card industry. He's still working for them and still conspiring with the Republican Party against working families. But it wasn't just Hoyer. Here's a list of Democrats still in Congress who played a significant role in passing Bush's bankruptcy bill. You might consider these names when you go to the polls in November or, if you live in PA-19, if you have a primary which features one of these creatures. That particular primary, of course, gives Democrats an opportunity to replace egregious, anti-family stooge Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA) with progressive Matt Cartwright. So here's the list; never too late to get even-- and make the world a better place:

Rob Andrews (D-NJ)
Joe Baca (Blue Dog-CA)
Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
Leonard Boswell (Blue Dog-IA)
Dennis Cardoza (Blue Dog-CA)
Ed Case (HI-- currently running for the U.S. Senate against progressive Mazie Hirono)
Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY)
Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN)
Joseph Crowley (New Dem chair-NY, one of the worst of the worst)
Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
Al Green (D-TX)
Brian Higgins (D-NY)
Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
Steve Israel (Blue Dog-NY, now chair of the DCCC, worker to elect more and much worse Democrats)
Ron Kind (D-WI, more New Dem scum)
Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC)
Bob Menendez (D-NJ, now a corrupt NJ Senator up for reelection)
Mike Michaud (Blue Dog-ME)
Jim Moran (D-VA)
Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
David Price (D-NC)
Nick Rahall (D-WV)
Silvestre Reyes (D-TX)
Steve Rothman (D-NJ)
Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD, aka-- Steney Hoyer's second vote)
Allison Schwartz (D-PA)
Dave Scott (Blue Dog-GA)
Mike Thompson (Blue Dog-CA)

Normal Democrats all voted against the bankruptcy bill. The ones above are lowlife traitors who stabbed working families in the back. There are no circumstances in which anyone who cares about progressive values or principles should vote for any of them. Just yesterday there were more stories about how particularly hard this dreadful law has been for African-American families struggling to tread water and how disastrous it has been for students trapped in unfair loan-for-profit schemes enabled by corrupt predators like Buck McKeon (R-CA). In fact here's an NPR program broadcast yesterday that talks about how mounting student debt could be a drag on the entire economy-- "a ticking time bomb."