Congress Acts to Protect America's Heroes At Home and on the Battlefield
While our friends and loved ones in the armed forces are working to secure America from the many threats of a dangerous world, Congress is working to help protect them from threats at home and abroad. This year, we've taken a serious approach to dealing with three different challenges facing our servicemen and their families: unsavory lending practices and financial agents, leaks of battlefield intelligence, and illegal leaks of classified information.
Many soldiers and their families have been the victims of unscrupulous financial agents who use misleading sales pitches and do not fully disclose the cost of their products and policies. The Dayton Daily News reported on one active duty soldier who obtained a "payday loan" from a financial agent for $300 -- he paid it off over 18 months at a cost of $2700.
Congress has taken action and banned such predatory lending schemes. We've passed both the Military Personnel Financial Services Protection Act - a bill authored by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) - and included provisions in the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act to protect servicemembers against predatory lenders.
Creditors are now prohibited from charging soldiers annual interest percentage rates for loans that are higher than the legal residents of the state, and annual percentage rates are capped at 36 percent including fees. We expanded the definition of "interest" to include all costs associated with the credit, including credit insurance, premiums, or any ancillary product sold with any extension of credit.
At the same time, many soldiers have been subjected to unfair government debt collection practices due to their deployments and other related circumstances. Congress set a limit on repayment installments to 20 percent of monthly pay.
Another challenge we're addressing is the threat posed by illegal leaks of classified information.
Wars are fought not only with troops, tanks, and guns, but with information. Intelligence is the key to victory in any successful military campaign and that is especially true in the Global War on Terror. Leaks of classified information threaten not only our national security, but our troops in the field. This is why we must be active in protecting battlefield intelligence.
One way we have done this is to authorize military tribunals to try suspected terrorists, such as alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad. These tribunals provide basic fairness for accused terrorists caught in battle while protecting classified information from falling into the wrong hands.
Critics of military tribunals argue that foreign terrorists deserve the same legal protections as American citizens, which includes access to classified intelligence. But we can not and will not provide foreign terrorists with classified information for them to relay to their affiliates who are out battling American troops. It's happened before. We can't afford to let it happen again.
The most recent illegal leaks of classified information are not only troubling -- they damage the war effort, endanger our troops, and undermine our national security.
This week, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) suspended a Democrat staff member of the Committee over concerns he may have illegally leaked the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to the New York Times last month. That the NIE may have been leaked for political purposes is a grave indictment of those who would put short-term political gain ahead of national security.
Addressing the problems posed by predatory lenders and leaks of classified information is the least we can do to help protect those who risk their lives to protect us.
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