Obama proposes Bankruptcy law changes

While bilingualism is grabbing some of the headlines, the topic of yesterday’s speech [CNN video] was bankruptcy. It was Obama’s first visit to Georgia since securing the nomination (and on the same day of some small buzz over a Zogby poll showing Obama beating McCain in the state 44 to 38 percent — with Barr taking the 6 percent difference).

Elizabeth Warren explains that it is rare for a presidential candidate to raise the topic, but these candidates have history:

[Obama] voted against the bankruptcy bill.  He voted in favor of the amendments that would have eased the effects of the amendments. But his real history is deeper. He was a community organizer who saw first-hand the effects of aggressive lending.  He was a state legislator who felt the impact of federal pre-emption on his ability to protect the citizens he represented.

…McCain also has a history.  McCain has voted in favor of financial institutions since he first went to Washington.  He voted over and over for the bankruptcy bill, and he voted against the amendments to give medical bankrupts a means test exemption, against a uniform minimim homestead for older Americans, against limiting recovery for lenders who violate Truth-in-Lending laws.  After Katrina, McCain opposed an amendment to make procedures easier for victims of natual disasters.  The list is long.

Obama proposed changing bankruptcy laws to fast-track the process for military families, help seniors keep their homes, and protect people recovering from natural disasters and high medical expenses.

He promised to enact a 120-day moratorium “on adverse credit actions from collectors, such as foreclosure” to free families from concerns about collectors as they are trying to recover. And he went on the offensive against McCain:

 “While I was opposing the credit card industry’s bankruptcy bill that made it harder for working families to climb out of debt, [Sen. McCain] was supporting it – and he even opposed helping families who were only in bankruptcy because of medical bills they couldn’t pay,” Obama told a crowd at the town hall, referring to a 2005 revamp of bankruptcy laws that McCain voted to support. Obama, who opposed the revamp, called it a sop to special interests. “He sided with the big banks again when it came to protecting the most valuable possession that older Americans have – their home.”

RELATED: Another day older and deeper in debt: Seniors and bankruptcy — reports on new studies finding older people deeper in debt and predatory lending practices on the rise.