Senate Bill 256: Usury and Misery

The Bible has many imprecations against usury. However, the bankruptcy bill which has just passed the Senate explcitly allows rates of 30 percent and higher! What has the netroots pissed off is the cloture roll call vote by "moderate" Senators to end debate on the bill. This was basically the last chance the minority party had to try and stop this trainwreck piece of legislation. And this is how the "moderates" voted:

"Moderate" Democrats

• Biden-DE
• Byrd-WV
• Carper-DE
• Conrad-ND
• Johnson-SD
• Kohl-WI
• Landrieu-LA
• Lieberman-CT
• Lincoln-AR
• Nelson-FL
• Nelson-NE
• Pryor-AR
• Salazar-CO
• Stabenow-MI

"Moderate" Republicans

• Allen-VA
• Chafee-RI
• Collins-ME
• Hagel-NE
• McCain-AZ
• Snowe-ME
• Specter-PA
• Voinovich-OH

The Los AngelesTimes has had good coverage of the issue for quite awhile, culminating with an editorial entitled "Bankrupt of Compassion":

The proposed Bankruptcy and Abuse Prevention
and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, despite
rhetoric served up by credit card companies,
banks and retailers, does a poor job of
distinguishing between deadbeats and people like
[Ruth M. Owens of Cleveland, who, according to a
Times report by Peter Gosselin, paid Discover
Bank $3,492 over six years on a $1,963 debt, only to
end up with a balance of $5,564 because of late fees
and finance charges], who are overwhelmed
primarily by two things: high healthcare costs
and credit card interest rates that can be as much
as 30% for those with poor credit.

...

Further, credit card companies have reported
steadily increasing profits even as bankruptcy
filings have risen. [$30 billion in 2004--TMP.]
They have done this by eagerly offering credit
cards to people with poor credit histories, and
charging fees and interest rates high enough to
offset the risk. Except, of course, the risk that
people will drown in spiraling interest costs.

The real spirit of the bill was made brutally clear
in a series of votes that culminated on Tuesday.
Senators have embraced what critics call the
"millionaire loophole," which would let rich
Americans establish trusts to keep their assets
safe from creditors. As for the ordinary Joes? The
lawmakers would make it harder for them to get
free and clear, meaning they're more likely to be
saddled with debts beyond their means. And the
senators also rejected an amendment to help old
people keep their homes.

This is very nice to see from a mainstream media outlet! This change in bankruptcy rules will hurt a lot of people who could be successful if given more time and will lead to a lot more misery in the red states where (as Atrios notes) bankruptcy rates are the highest.