Even though the new bankruptcy law will hit New Yorkers harder than the population as a whole, New York congressman Joseph Crowley was one of 73 Democrats who voted for the bill. He was even a co-sponsor!
John Edwards, on the other hand, recently admitted that he was mistaken to have voted for a similar bill in 2001:
Like a lot of Democrats, I voted for a bankruptcy reform bill before. I can’t say it more simply than this: I was wrong.
The bill is supposed to crack down on irresponsible borrowers. That’s the right thing to do. The problem is that this bill imposes big burdens on families who did everything right but went broke just because they lost a job or lost their health insurance. And, even more than the legislation I supported, this bill doesn’t crack down on the real abusers.
… This bill won’t do anything to give struggling families more security. It will only make it harder for good and decent people to start over. The new means test that will mean hundreds of dollars in new legal fees for families who barely have money to put food on the table.
If we want real reform, we shouldn’t punish every hard-working family looking for another chance. But we should get serious about the biggest abuses.
In some states, a multimillionaire CEO can drive his company into the ground, declare bankruptcy, and still keep his mansion-tennis court, Jacuzzi, and all. The 2001 bill at least stopped that by capping the “homestead exemption” at $125,000. This bill will allow many multimillionaires to protect their mansions if they plan ahead.
Shame on you Joseph Crowley.
UPDATE: Guess who funds Joseph Crawley? Here are the top 4:
1 Securities & Investment $179,704
2 Insurance $73,500
3 Real Estate $65,050
4 Commercial Banks $63,700
