National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Act of 2008

Floor Speech

NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVISTS DEBT RELIEF ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - October 02, 2008)

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Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 3197.

I am pleased that we are finally about to provide this benefit to our veterans, but I am troubled that it has taken us so long to do so. On April 14, 2005, the House considered S. 256, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which was a much-needed and very responsible reform. Then in the minority, my colleague Ms. Schakowsky introduced a motion to recommit so that the bill would allow a targeted exemption from our stricter means test for those National Guard and Reservists who had been called up after 9/11.

At the time of the floor debate, I was told by the Republican floor manager that the Schakowsky motion was redundant, that there was already such protection for our National Guard and Reservists under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Because of this, I voted against the motion, and it failed on a party-line vote, 200 yeas to 229 nays.

I soon found out, however, that I and other Republican Members had been misinformed, apparently to prevent the then-minority from having any legislative success. When I found out there was no adequate protection for our returning Reservists and Guardsmen, I pledged to work with my colleague, Ms. Schakowsky, to make it right.

Subsequently, I introduced legislation to amend the bankruptcy law. This measure, of course, isn't costing any--well, maybe it costs a few, but probably not any Federal dollars--new Federal dollars. There is no big spending involved in this. There is no massive appropriation needed. All it is is a consideration for these people who have risked their lives for us and are coming home. But my party couldn't get itself to provide consideration for our homecoming heroes, even though there wasn't a major cost involved. Thus my legislation didn't ever get to the floor.

In the meantime, party control of the House changed, and Ms. Schakowsky and I have been working diligently to get this legislation to the floor and get it passed into law. The Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent on Tuesday, and we are now considering this bill under suspension, which means it's pretty well recognized that this has widespread support, and it should have been voted on and accepted a long time ago.

S. 3197, introduced by Senator Durbin in the Senate, has bettered the bill in several ways. Often, it will take several months for a servicemember to gain an understanding of his or her financial situation after returning home. So this bill expands the time of eligibility to a year and a half after the servicemember has been released from active duty.

And because more information is needed, this bill requires the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the number of Reservists in the Armed Forces and National Guard members who will be using this exemption and the number of servicemembers who are substantially or materially involved in bankruptcy cases because of their service.

I encourage my colleagues who voted ``no'' on the motion to recommit 3 years ago to vote in favor of this legislation today. This bill is not a wedge to reopen the bankruptcy rules. Rather, it is a narrow, targeted change modeled after existing exemptions for disabled veterans who are America's heroes. This is targeted at those American heroes throughout our country who are called up for deployment and are now returning home.

This bill will ensure that America's heroes throughout our country, who have often been called up for deployment, and these deployments have been far longer than they ever initially thought they would ever be called up for, this bill is intended that they will not pay a high personal cost for their absence and their willingness to step forward and defend our country.

As my colleague, Ms. Schakowsky, put it, these servicemembers have put their lives and livelihood on the line for us, and we owe them a great debt. This is one way that we can show our deep appreciation for the service that these people have given to us, protecting our families and the service they've provided our country.

Now is the time for us to repay that debt in a very bipartisan way, which should have been in play on this floor in this House all along; and when it wasn't 3 years ago, Ms. Schakowsky and I have finally made up for that bit of partisanship at the expense of our homecoming heroes that happened over 3 years ago.

So, today, I ask my colleagues to join Ms. Schakowsky and myself. I thank all of those involved who helped us along the way, and I ask my colleagues to support this measure.

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