Biden in Two-thousand Never

This was from Saturday's edition of the LA Times, but I didn't have a chance to express my displeasure until today. Joe Biden (D-MBNA) has decided to attack back at those of us sane people who see his vote on the bankruptcy bill as a cynical cash payout to Delaware-based credit card companies. He responded to a week-old Jonathan Chait article called "When Democrats Join the Dark Side," which used Biden and the bankruptcy bill as an example of how Democrats with narrow home-state business constituencies can get peeled off into Republican-backed measures.

Biden's retort is called "Bankruptcy Reform Bill Is A Bipartisan Effort" and it's sure to make you hurl.

In his zeal to attack the bankruptcy reform bill, Jonathan Chait's March 4 commentary, "When Democrats Join the Dark Side," mischaracterizes the legislation. In 2001, a similar bill passed the Senate 82 to 16. The provisions affecting consumer bankruptcy were identical to those Chait criticizes.

So a similar bill passed in 2001, so Chait is not allowed to criticize it in 2005. I see.

The Schumer amendment that killed the bill in previous years, seen as the best attempt to vote down this legislation, passed by 7 votes, 53-46. Does that sound bipartisan to you?

At the outset, I refused to support bankruptcy reform until fundamental changes were made. I fought to establish a "safe harbor" for those below their state's median income. I also insisted on a provision requiring lenders to post a clear warning about the dangers of making minimum monthly payments, one of the worst debt traps for consumers.
This bill establishes unprecedented protections for child support and alimony, making bankruptcy part of the enforcement system for women and children, who now will be at the head of the line, in front of every other creditor. Is this bill perfect? No. But over several congresses it has earned the kind of bipartisan consensus only balanced legislation can achieve.

Biden sidesteps the issue of asset protection trusts (legal in his home state of Delaware), the struck-down amendments safeguarding military personnel and those with catastrophically large medical bills, the predatory lending practices of credit card companies (and their 30%-plus finance charges); in short, everything that Chait criticizes about the bill, in addition to most of us here. This is the textbook definition of obfuscation, of not answering the question posed to you.

Not only is the bill "not perfect," Mr. Biden, it practically reverses bankruptcy protection in this country, and does nothing toward its intended goal, to reduce "abuse" of the system. It's corporate welfare. If you want to go on believing this is "not perfect" but sound, bipartisan legislation, you're welcome to do so. And we're welcome to make sure that you are never elected to higher office.