Reply #15: My Kind of Fiscal Responsibility

[DrFunkenstein]

Only 14 Democrats voted against the 2001 bankruptcy bill:

Corzine, Dayton, Dodd, Durbin, Feingold, Harkin, Kennedy, Nelson, Reed, Rockefeller, Sarbanes, Wellstone, and Kerry.

Consumer groups and unions had been aggressive in opposing it, contending that the changes in bankruptcy law will take away an important means of relief for families hit by job losses. Former President Clinton vetoed 2000's similar version, saying it would hurt ordinary people and working families.

"This is the most anticonsumer piece of legislation that the Congress is considering," said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group in Washington, D.C.

And they wonder why Ralph Nader got so many Democratic votes?

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0316-03.htm

Corporations are using investor rights contained in the North American Free Trade Agreement’s (NAFTA) Chapter 11 to challenge in closed NAFTA tribunals a variety of national, state and local policies and decisions.

Unlike the amendment sponsored by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the Baucus-Grassley Amendment does not set the U.S. Constitution as the benchmark for the scope of property rights available to foreign investors in the United States.

"It’s nice they fixed a drafting error by passing the Baucus amendment," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. "Now the Senate needs to pass the Kerry Amendment to start fixing the NAFTA Chapter 11 problem."

http://www.commondreams.org/news2002/0515-04.htm