Credit Card Bill & Gun Vote

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...est=latestnews

Credit Card Bill Forces Dems to Take Vote on Gun Rights
The Democrat-led Congress is intent on sending to President Obama's desk legislation that would impose sweeping restrictions on credit card companies in the name of consumer protection. But to do so without further delay, lawmakers have to take a vote against gun control.


Wednesday, May 20, 2009



An odd thing happened on the way to Congress overhauling the credit card industry -- lawmakers gave the thumbs-up to allowing loaded guns in parks.

The weapons amendment was slipped into the Senate version of the credit card bill, which passed Wednesday by an overwhelming vote. The amendment, inserted by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., restores Bush administration policy allowing loaded guns in national parks.

Now House Democrats have to approve the same Senate version, and in turn take a vote against gun control, in order to avoid kicking it back to the other chamber.

The Democrat-led Congress is intent on sending to President Obama's desk the legislation that would impose sweeping restrictions on credit card companies in the name of consumer protection. Considering the large number of moderate Democrats in the House, the bill is expected to pass intact when it comes for a vote Wednesday.

But navigating around a gun amendment takes delicate legislative maneuvering, and anti-gun Democrats will have a chance to go on record against the amendment without torpedoing the overall bill.

That's because the House will hold two votes: one for the credit card end of things, one for the firearms portion. This gives anti-gun members political cover by allowing them to vote against the guns amendment and then for the credit card bill.

But the Coburn amendment showed that a surprising number of Democrats -- 27 on the Senate side -- are willing to back legislation expanding gun rights.

Among those who voted "yes" was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who had blocked Coburn's amendment from coming to the Senate floor for more than a year. Seven other Western Democrats voted with Reid to support the Republican senator's amendment, which allows a range of firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges as long as they are allowed by federal, state and local law.

Spokesman Jim Manley said Reid is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, adding that the guns in parks issue was a major concern for many Nevadans.

Meanwhile, the credit card bill is targeted at addressing consumer concerns.

The bill would enact sweeping new restrictions on the industry, including a requirement that customers penalized by higher interest rates because they missed a payment are given a chance to reclaim their lower rate after six months.

Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday said the bill would "create a more fair, transparent and simple consumer credit market."

Of the five senators sympathetic to card lenders, two were from South Dakota, where thousands of jobs depend on the industry. Republican Sen. John Thune estimated the bill would cost as many as 5,000 jobs in his home state.

Sen. Tim Johnson, also from South Dakota and the only Democrat to oppose the bill, agreed it could be devastating.

"This is a time when millions of consumers are already facing lower credit limits and higher interest rates on their credit cards because of decreasing credit availability and continued economic instability," he said.

Also opposing the bill were GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Robert Bennett of Utah and Jon Kyl of Arizona.

But their voices were drowned out by lawmakers who said their offices had received dozens of complaints from voters.

"We said that big banks can no longer take advantage of hardworking Americans," Reid said of the Senate vote.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Del., on Wednesday brushed aside talk that credit will be more scarce if Congress approves the bill.

Calling Tuesday's Senate vote "a great day for consumers," Dodd also said people still must handle their money responsibly and pay their bills on time. But he also said the measure was "a long time coming, a long time overdue."

Dodd said any assertion that credit will be hard to get is absurd, "a little like Chicken Little."

Under the new bill, a customer would have to be more than 60 days behind on a payment before seeing a rate increase on an existing balance. Even then, the lender would be required to restore the previous, lower rate after six months if the cardholder pays the minimum balance on time.

Consumers also would have to receive 45 days' notice and an explanation before their interest rate was increased.

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Duplicate post. See here:
http://forum.pafoa.org/national-11/5...ght-carry.html