{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-and-nadler-introduce-the-consumer-bankruptcy-reform-act-of-2020", "Warren and Nadler Introduce the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020", "2020-12-09", "2020", "2020-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 09, 2020\n\t\t\t Warren and Nadler Introduce the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020 \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020 would simplify and modernize the consumer bankruptcy system to make it easier for individuals and families forced into bankruptcy to get back on their feet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t One-Pager\r\n(PDF) | Bill\r\nSummary (PDF) | Bill\r\nText (PDF) Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren\r\n(D-Mass.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.)\r\nintroduced the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020, bicameral\r\nlegislation to simplify and modernize the consumer bankruptcy system to make it\r\neasier for individuals and families forced into bankruptcy to get back on their\r\nfeet. This legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and\r\nSheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David N.\r\nCicilline (D-R.I.). \"Our bankruptcy system too often fails to provide financially\r\nstruggling individuals and families the relief they desperately need,\" said\r\nSenator Warren. \"The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020\r\nwill take long overdue steps to make it easier and less expensive for\r\nfinancially-strapped families and individuals to obtain meaningful bankruptcy\r\nrelief and give Americans a better chance to get back on their feet.\" \"Bankruptcy is an option of last resort, but it also promises a fresh\r\nstart so that people can get back up and keep working and providing for their\r\nfamilies,\" said Chairman Nadler.\r\n\"Today that promise rings hollow for many people because the bankruptcy\r\nsystem has become complex, unfair, and even punitive for ordinary consumers.\r\nThe Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act ensures that the bankruptcy system works for\r\nthe American people and not just big corporate creditors. Senator Warren and I\r\nhave worked on this issue for many years, and I look forward to continuing our\r\nfight for consumers with this new legislation.\" \"As we grapple with the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic,\r\nAmerican families will continue facing serious financial pressures,\"\r\nsaid Senator Durbin. \"Whether it is finding ways to help families\r\nstay in their homes during bankruptcy, to restoring dischargeability of student\r\nloans, to addressing racial and gender disparities in the bankruptcy system; we\r\nmust end years of delay and finally make our bankruptcy system fairer by\r\npassing this legislation.\" \"Our bankruptcy system tends to put the profits of big corporations\r\nahead of families fighting to stay afloat,\" said Senator\r\nWhitehouse. \"I'm proud to support this sensible bill to allow\r\nAmericans facing financial hardship to free themselves of student loan and\r\nmedical debt.\" \"I'm proud to join Senator Warren and Chairman Nadler in introducing\r\nthis important bill,\" said Chairman David N. Cicilline.\r\n\"Giving people a fresh start is the cornerstone of our bankruptcy code.\r\nBut for too many, that relief is out of reach due to significant burdens and\r\nhigh costs. This bill will remove these barriers and bring much-needed reforms\r\nthat give working Americans a fair shot and a second chance at economic\r\nopportunity.\" The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis has left millions of\r\nAmericans out of work, drowning in debt, and struggling under the weight of\r\nmedical bills, student loans, mortgages, and car loans. Even before the\r\npandemic hit, Americans were already hanging on by their fingernails. In the\r\nlast 40 years, consumer credit skyrocketed as Americans, faced with stagnant\r\nwages, took on more debt to deal with the increasing costs of housing,\r\neducation, medical care, and child care. For millions of households, a shock\r\nlike a job loss or a family illness can send them tumbling over a financial cliff.\r\nRecent reports warn\r\nthat a wave of bankruptcies is on the horizon. The bankruptcy system is supposed to be a lifeline of last resort; instead,\r\nindividuals and families forced into bankruptcy encounter a broken system that\r\ntoo often fails to provide them with the financial relief they seek and benefits\r\nbig corporate creditors. The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act will: \r\n Make it easier and less\r\n     expensive for financially-strapped families and individuals to obtain financial\r\n     relief by replacing the two separate consumer bankruptcy chapters with a\r\n     single system available to all consumers, streamlining the filing process,\r\n     and reducing filing fees.\r\n  \r\n Ensure that filers can\r\n     care for themselves and their families during the bankruptcy process by helping\r\n     renters with back rent avoid eviction and continue to make payments,\r\n     making student loan debt dischargeable in bankruptcy, and allowing people\r\n     to protect their homes and cars during the bankruptcy process.\r\n  \r\n Help address racial and\r\n     gender disparities in the bankruptcy system by ending the special\r\n     privilege that prevents people from discharging local government fines in\r\n     bankruptcy; preventing individuals from obtaining relief from debts\r\n     arising from civil rights violations; and exempting sources of income and\r\n     assets traceable to alimony, child support income, the child tax credit,\r\n     and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).\r\n  \r\n Close loopholes that\r\n     allow the wealthy to exploit the bankruptcy system, including the\r\n     \"Millionaire's Loophole\" and \"spendthrift clause\r\n     loophole.\"\r\n  \r\n Crack down on predatory\r\n     practices and hold corporate wrongdoers accountable by banning collection\r\n     of debts that violate consumer protection laws, allowing lawsuits against\r\n     creditors that attempt to collect previously discharged debt, and\r\n     preventing creditors from pursuing consumers in mandatory arbitration.\r\n The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020 has been endorsed by\r\nAction Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE); Alliance for Retired Americans;\r\nAmerican Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME);\r\nAmericans for Financial Reform; Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO;\r\nAssociation of Young Americans (AYA); Consumer Federation of America; Demos;\r\nNational Alliance for Partnerships in Equity; National Association of Consumer\r\nAdvocates; National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education\r\n(NAFEO); National Consumer Law Center (NCLC); National Indian Education\r\nAssociation (NIEA); Progressive Change Campaign Committee; Public Citizen;\r\nService Employees International Union (SEIU); Social Security Works; UnidosUS;\r\nU.S. PIRG; and Young Invincibles. \"The Association of Young Americans (AYA) is deeply appreciative of,\r\nand pleased to endorse, the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act introduced by\r\nSenator Warren and Chairman Nadler, which would help young Americans forced\r\ninto bankruptcy get back on their feet,\" said Ben Brown, Founder,\r\nAssociation of Young Americans. \"This bill would create a less\r\nhostile financial relief environment for people struggling financially,\r\nespecially at a time when millions of young people are being crushed by student\r\ndebt, dealing with economic fallout from COVID-19, and experiencing intense job\r\ninsecurity. Senator Warren's and Chairman Nadler's legislation is commendable\r\nas it would make it easier for people to obtain relief by streamlining the\r\nbankruptcy filing process, ensuring rent protections, making student loans\r\ndischargeable in bankruptcy, and protecting filers from predatory practices and\r\nexploitation. Along with student debt cancellation, these are the kinds of\r\npolicies young Americans need to be enacted in order to stimulate a strong\r\neconomy in which all young people are able to meaningfully participate. For\r\nthese reasons, AYA advocates for the passage of this bill into law.\" \"The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, the\r\nmembership and advocacy association for all HBCUs and PBIs, is grateful to\r\nSenator Warren and Congressman Nadler for introducing the Consumer Bankruptcy\r\nReform Act, a comprehensive measure to fix our bankruptcy system, to give\r\npeople forced into bankruptcy a second chance a lifeline of last resort,\" said\r\nLezli Baskerville, President & CEO, National Association for Equal\r\nOpportunity in Higher Education. \"This tremendous fix of the\r\nbroken American bankruptcy system is especially needed at this time as millions\r\nof new people are filing for unemployment and millions more are under water\r\nwith no foreseeable way out. People of color, women, the frontline workers we\r\ndo not see on the evening news, and others who were thriving before we got\r\nmired in the worst pandemic since the 1819 epidemic, and the worst recession in\r\nrecent years, are buried beneath unpaid rent and mortgages, car loans, medical\r\nbills, maxed out on credit cards being used for food, family, and other\r\nnecessities. The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act will give people who fall down\r\na way to get back up again.\" \"In a time when millions of Americans have lost their jobs and\r\nlivelihoods due to the ongoing COVID-19 health and economic crisis, it's clear\r\nour system needs a stronger financial safety net,\" said Christine\r\nHines, Legislative Director at National Association of Consumer Advocates.\r\n\"Senator Elizabeth Warren's and Chairman Jerry Nadler's Consumer\r\nBankruptcy Reform Act is a thoughtful and comprehensive package of protections\r\nthat supports families struggling with burdensome debt and facilitates\r\nsustainable paths to help get them back on their feet.\" \"Public Citizen enthusiastically supports this critical set of reforms\r\nfrom Senator Warren and Chairman Nadler,\" said Lisa Gilbert,\r\nExecutive Vice President, Public Citizen. \"Modernizing and\r\nclarifying the consumer bankruptcy system is long overdue, and in this time of\r\nnational economic crisis, making it easier for individuals and families forced\r\ninto bankruptcy to get back on their feet is just the right thing to\r\ndo.\" \"U.S. PIRG supports the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act, which will\r\nre-balance consumer rights to a fairer bankruptcy process and will give them a\r\nbetter chance to reorganize their finances, especially during a pandemic,\"\r\nsaid Ed Mierzwinski, Senior Director for Federal Consumer Programs,\r\nU.S. PIRG. \"Importantly, the proposal includes protections for\r\nboth homeowners and renters, prohibits and punishes illegal practices by debt\r\ncollectors and others, addresses racial and gender disparities in the\r\nbankruptcy system and eliminates loopholes exploited by the wealthy. Finally,\r\nit also eliminates one of the cruelest provisions in U.S. law by removing the\r\nprovision that makes private and federal student loans non-dischargeable.\" \"Young people have struggled to obtain solid financial footing since\r\nthe Great Recession, and the Covid-19 economic downturn only places a heavier\r\nburden on millions of Americans already hardest hit,\" said Dr.\r\nKyle Southern, Policy and Advocacy Director for Higher Education and Workforce,\r\nYoung Invincibles. \"We applaud Senator Warren's and Chairman\r\nNadler's introduction of the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act, which would\r\nprovide a more straightforward path for economically distressed Americans to\r\nmove forward. In particular, the bill's provision to make student loan debt\r\ndischargeable would be a much-needed change in law to help struggling student\r\nborrowers. This bill's focus on racial and gender disparities in the bankruptcy\r\nsystem would also foster greater equity and strengthen the strained social\r\nsafety net.\" In the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys'\r\n(NACBA) letter of encouragement, NACBA President Colwell stated,\r\n\"We share Senator Warren's and Chairman Nadler's belief that now is the\r\ntime to make the improvements to the Bankruptcy Code that have long been\r\nneeded.\" The full letter is available here. ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-and-nadler-introduce-the-consumer-bankruptcy-reform-act-of-2020"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8902570698410273, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}