The last year has seen the biggest bankruptcies in history. There have been associated layoffs of more than 5 million workers since the second quarter of 2000, when the air began leaving the economic bubble. (To view the stats, go to http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/mmls.t01.htm).

What's going on in Washington to address this issue? How are our elected representatives helping laid-off workers get back on their feet?

The most significant legislation affecting laid-off workers in front of Congress is the laughably named "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act," approved by a House-Senate conference committee.

That legislation, bought and paid for by the credit card industry, will make it much more difficult for those workers, and others, to escape the burden of crushing debt and get a fresh start.

Supporters of the bill say that it's necessary to prevent "fraud and abuse," but statistics clearly show that only a tiny percentage of those filing for bankruptcy abuse the system.

In 2001, seven of 10 consumer bankruptcies were filed after a job loss or small-business failure. Their debts were manageable when they were working, but without a steady income, they had no realistic chance of repaying these debts.

This bill has been pitched as benefiting those of us who pay our bills, with promises of lower interest. Yet good credit risks already receive lower interest rates.

Instead, the bill benefits the credit card industry, whose insatiable hunger for customers has pushed more cards and higher limits into the hands of consumers, including many who should never have received credit. Some cards bear interest rates of 29 percent. Such high rates should compensate the credit card companies for the risk of nonpayment.

But the credit card lobby didn't feel secure even as it reaped record profits. It went to Congress and bought -- at an estimated cost of $30 million during the last election, and even more this year -- a bankruptcy bill that will make it much harder for people to discharge credit card debt.
Gambling interests contributed $9 million more (you can read the report at http://www.opensecrets.org/alerts/v6/alertv6_06.asp).

Small business is also a victim. Large corporations, such as WorldCom and Enron, still will be able to file bankruptcy and have ample time to reorganize. But small businesses (and most of the bankruptcies in Missouri and Kansas fall into this category) will get much less time, and most will be liquidated as a result.

Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, the ranking Republican on the Senate Small Business Committee, should be up in arms about this assault on small business. Instead, he supports the bill, along with most of the local congressional delegation.

And the bill won't prevent the worst abuses. Currently, seven states, including Kansas, have an unlimited homestead exemption. This means that wealthy debtors in Kansas can sink huge dollars into mansions and keep them in bankruptcy.

Missourians, meanwhile, receive paltry $8,000 exemptions to protect their homes. The bill maintains this inequity, because the House refused to accept the Senate's absolute cap on homesteads. High-living corporate executives will be able to keep their multimillion-dollar mansions in Texas and Florida as well. But if you lose your job, and you live in Missouri, you'll likely lose your home as well.

This bill hasn't become law yet, because the House adjourned without passing it. The Senate decided to defer its vote until after the Labor Day recess.

So it's not too late for you to express your outrage over this anti-consumer, pro-bank bill. if you do so now, our senators and representatives might hear us. Otherwise, they won't hear a thing but the sound of campaign contributions from lobbyists jingling in their pockets.

Corinne Cooper is a professor emerita of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a communication consultant in Kansas City.

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