A snapshot of the Senate at work: Last week, this august body, which has at least ten times as many millionaires as their proportion in the general population, voted to make it substantially harder for average Americans to declare bankruptcy and get out from under their debts. The bill, a top priority of the banking and credit card industries, ignored the recommendations of Congress' own National Bankruptcy Review Commission, which had sought to balance the concerns of creditors and debtors. These industries have given $29.4 million in large individual ($200+), PAC and soft money contributions to federal candidates and parties from 1997 to present, two-thirds to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
While the Senate version is not as tough on debtors as a House bill passed earlier, it still wields some harsh provisions. The chairman of the Bankruptcy Review Commission, Brady Williamson, summed up the picture pretty well in a quote he gave to USA Today. "The lobbying and political contributions haven't been balanced, and as a result it shouldn't come as a surprise that the legislation isn't balanced," said Williamson.
The Senate did mercifully toss a bone to the working poor, tacking on a provision to the bankruptcy bill that would raise the minimum wage 33 cents per hour for each of the next three years. This sounds good, except when you consider that even after it fully takes effect, a full-time, year-round minimum-wage worker will earn less than it takes to lift a family of three out of poverty. Or that even a $6.15 a hour, the minimum wage in 2003 will be 85 cents less than it was in 1968, adjusting for inflation.
And just in case anyone worried that the Senate had gone soft, the minimum wage package came wrapped with $75 billion in tax cuts over ten years ostensibly designed to help small businesses, but mostly focused on people with higher incomes. Eighty-one percent of large contributors to congressional campaigns--those who give more than $200--earn six-figure incomes. Is it any wonder Congress butters their bread first?
Topping that off, the Senate bill raises the business meal tax deduction from 50 to 80 percent for most businesses. Hello, three martini lunch! The restaurant and hotel industry has invested $12.5 million in campaign contributions since 1997 with this goal in mind. Two-thirds of this total went to Republicans.
