Yesterday was a very difficult day for Democrats, one when, among other frustrating developments, we saw many of our brethren and sistren in the Senate support a despicable piece of legislation. As difficult as it is to look, things will actually be worse in the House.

..."There is a lot more to the email, including the letter the twenty signed and sent to Hastert. Reading it filled me with tremendous sadness and despair over what many of my fellow Democrats have done. I'd rant and rave, but I am really just too bummed out to do so.

This magazine and multiple other opinion outlets on the center-left have written at length about how the bill in question is a truly contemptible piece of legislation. Worse, there is no plausible political rationale for supporting it other than to appease credit card companies. As Paul Krugman pointed out today, the bill makes no exceptions for families wiped out by medical expenses (which make up more than half of all bankruptcies) or for bankruptcy cases involving active-duty soldiers, yet it leaves any number of loopholes in place for large corporations. The political imagery here so obviously benefits anyone who'd oppose the bill you're left to conclude that the only way a congressman could possibly support it is through a craven and reflexive willingness to do the bidding of big business.

But, even worse than that, support for the bill by Democratic moderates betrays a striking obliviousness to the most important debate underway within the Democratic Party. Moderate Democrats have been under assault from grassroots liberals lately for selling out Democratic values in their rush to appease conservative interests. I normally think this criticism is highly misplaced, and that moderates have exactly the right instincts when it comes to social issues and foreign policy, even most economic issues. But in this case the moderates proved the liberals' point for them, which could set back the cause of moderates within the party for months, if not years. It really is a colossal, inexcusable mistake.

The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
H-232, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Speaker:

We write to encourage you to bring bankruptcy reform legislation to the House floor as soon as the Senate completes its consideration of the bill. The New Democrat Coalition has backed common sense bankruptcy reform in the past and helped in passing the bankruptcy reform bill by overwhelming margins in the House of Representatives during the 108th Congress.

Over the last several years, we have worked to advance reasonable and balanced legislation that would require individuals who have the ability to repay their debts to do so, while preserving the important safety net of bankruptcy under Chapter 7 for those who truly need it. We believe that responsible bankruptcy reform embodies the New Democrat principle of personal responsibility, while at the same time adding important new consumer protections such as requiring enhanced credit card disclosure information and encouraging participation in consumer credit counseling.

It is our hope that the House of Representatives will consider this important piece of legislation in an expedited manner. We stand ready to work with you and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass bankruptcy reform into law.

Sincerely,

Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher
Rep. Adam Smith
Rep. Ron Kind
Rep. Artur Davis
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy
Rep. John Larson
Rep. Stephanie Herseth
Rep. Dennis Moore
Rep. Mike McIntyre
Rep. Joe Crowley
Rep. Jay Israel
Rep. David Wu
Rep. Diane Hooley
Rep. Melissa Bean
Rep. Jim Davis
Rep. Harold E. Ford, Jr.
Rep. Ed Case
Rep. Jay Inslee
Rep. Shelley Berkeley
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks

In closing, we encourage you to expedite consideration of this legislation in the House of Representatives. We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to working with you to
ensure passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act as quickly as possible.

Sincerely,

Jim Matheson
John Tanner
Jim Cooper
Allen Boyd
Dennis Cardoza
Lincoln Davis
Steve Israel
David Scott
Stephanie Herseth
Ed Case
Leonard Boswell
Ken Salazar
Ellen Tauscher
Marion Berry
Sanford Bishop
Bud Cramer
Collin Peterson
Jim Costa
Mike Thompson
Harold Ford, Jr
Dennis Moore
John Barrow
Mike Ross
Mike Michaud
Joe Baca
Jane Harman
Mike McIntye

SCURLOCK: Well, you know, if you look at the numbers, and you look at why people declare bankruptcy and you look at why people are in debt, the only real solution is to never go to the hospital, never get divorced and never lose your job, which I don't I think is that realistic for most people -- and probably never go to college.

Other than that, I think you just have to be very, very wary. You know, a lot of these people get the credit card offers and take them at face value. But if they're getting a credit card offer, it's not because they're responsible or because they're a platinum person or a gold person. You know, it's because they could make money for the credit card company.

WASTLER: James, bang on Congress a little bit. There was a big hearing... SCURLOCK: OK.

WASTLER: ... this week and everything. And they had all the big boy credit card companies come. Oh yes, we promise, we're going to be more transparent with our customers, which is a bunch of malarkey, quite frankly. I know you've been following it carefully, but all of these banks have big lobbying organizations that help get their point of view across in Washington. Is there any realistic chance that we'll get some sort of change out of D.C.?

SCURLOCK: Well, I think the congressmen are still sort of stinging from this bait and switch with bankruptcy reform where they were told that if they passed the bill, about a year-and-a-half ago, that all Americans would get this dividend in the form of lower interest rates. I think they said it was $500 or $600 we were all paying because people were gaming in the bankruptcy system. And nobody has gotten a dividend check yet and I don't think interest rates have come down. So and I think Congress is very angry about this. And you have new -- the Democrats in charge of the committees and oversight are they are really taking these guys to task.

"..Our opponents in Congress are extremists. We're fighting now for the future of our country and the future of democracy. To vote with the Republicans is to let extremism get the upper hand. In the past, our party's own ideal about inclusiveness kept us from having the necessary tools to fight. We need to toughen up. We can't afford to be divided by members peeling off on issues that touch upon our deeply held beliefs.

We don't need to march in lockstep on every vote. But on critical votes that touch on our key issues, Democrats can not abandon their core values. The history of the twentieth century teaches that we must never compromise with extremists."

From "You Have the Power" 2004, Howard Dean