U.S. Senate Refuses to Add Abortion Feature to Bankruptcy Bill

[Rose Siding]

March 8 (Bloomberg) -- A bill to force some consumers to pay more of their debts in bankruptcy moved a step closer to enactment as lawmakers killed a provision on abortion that scuttled the legislation in 2003.

The Senate voted 53-46 to defeat an amendment that would have prevented anti-abortion protesters from using bankruptcy to avoid paying fines or civil judgments for blocking entrances to abortion clinics. The provision's inclusion in a Senate-passed bill two years ago led to the bankruptcy bill's downfall in the House of Representatives.

Republicans vowed to prevent the amendment by New York Democrat Charles E. Schumer from killing the bill this year.

``I have been around here long enough to know a poison pill when I see one,'' said Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, who assented to the provision two years ago and now opposed it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aCYea9yq8dc4&refer=us

[arcos]

1. Ben Nelson and Byrd voted against it...

Snowe, Collins, Specter and Chafee voted for it.

Let's see what the Byrd lovers will say now... :eyes:

[Rose Siding]

2. This one will say...

I wish he hadn't voted for it.

[BrklynLiberal]

19. I don't understand his vote on this..........

Interesting that Orrin Hatch changed his vote from two years ago. Guess the Fundies got to him. Lots of testicles in purses these days.

Must give kudos to Arlen Specter(guess he got one of his testicles back from Rove) Lincoln Chafee, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe

Wish Chafee, Collins and Snowe would switch to Dem or Ind, since I am sure the Rep will try to murder them when they come up for re-election.
It seems such a shame.

[jdj]

29. this was a deal where the dems wanted to protect farmers

somehow, did they get the protection for farmers passed? As I recall, that apparently was the exchange.

[AlCzervik]

3. i watched the vote on that one, it came a lot closer to passing

than most of the ammendments put forth by democrats.

[hiley]

4. Having trouble

today understanding this,could you explain a little to me ?
(sometimes my fibromyalgia and meds boggle my mind)

[AlCzervik]

6. meaning if your antichoice group files for bankruptcy

you'd still have to pay fines.

[hiley]

9. i have to re-read

thanks.:hi:

[AlCzervik]

11. if it passed it would have been good.

[hiley]

12. now, I get it

sorry so dense ! thank you rose and chimpsrs

[AlCzervik]

16. you're not dense at all, there have been so many ammendments made to

this bill that unless you follow it very closely it's easy to not get it all at once. I've been watching this play out in the senate since last week with my bottle of maalox and screaming pillow.

[hiley]

28. chimpsrsmarter

thanks, I have just been having a hard day. The bankruptcy bill/amendments are so confusing and have not had time to follow up with c-span. Have been doing all the actions requested by various groups, but exhausted from the barrage of attacks from the bush administration. Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare etc. !

[Rose Siding]

10. The dems (nearly all) wanted an amendment that said

protesters at abortion clinics couldn't file bankruptcy to escape paying fines. We lost. In defeating the amendment, the repubs and a couple of dems voted to give bankruptcy protection to abortion clinic bombers.

[hiley]

14. this really sucks

Why in the world did Sen.Byrd not vote with the dems ?
Of course, I realize you don't know the answer to that but I am flabbergasted.

[apnu]

5. damn I hate awkward English!

"...would have prevented anti-abortion protesters from using bankruptcy to avoid paying fines ..."

What does that mean? Am I to understand that the anti-choice bastards no CAN declare bankruptcy to avoid fines?!?! :wtf:

[genieroze]

7. I thought you couldn't use bankruptcy to avoid paying fines and legal.

judgments.

[apnu]

8. my point exactly!

What is defeated and by who? What did this amendment mean? And why Anti-Choice people by name?

I hate bloomberg.

[Jacobin]

15. No. Only things like damages for drunken driving and

such.

Ordinary judgments are dischargeable in bankruptcy.

[oneighty]

26. Boy and thanks.

I am happy that I am not alone. It makes no sense to me. Like it has two meanings. Legal speak.

180

[jmowreader]

13. According to Schumer, it has happened

I think this is how it works:

1) Firebomb a clinic or perform some other act of violence against a provider
2) Go to court and be ordered to pay restitution to said provider
3) Declare bankruptcy
4) Call provider's lawyer. Inform same that you're bankrupt, so you're not going to pay squat.

Which is really fucked up, but they figured out how to do it.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

17. This bill gives financial protection to terrorists!

If you are "attacking" without provocation, you are a terrorist. Abortion Clinic attackers ARE TERRORISTS!

[jmowreader]

18. Yup. That's what it boils down to.

But they're the Good Kind of Terrorist--the nice Christians who only want to save the unborn babies--and not the Bad Kind, so that's okay.

[BrklynLiberal]

20. EXACTLY!

[KansDem]

21. Yeah, but damn! We gotta stop those gays from marrying! (eom)

[Beetwasher]

22. Is It ONLY Protecting People Who Attack Abortion Clinics?

Or is it protecting anyone who declares bankrupcy due to legal fines of some sort? I don't understand...

[Ian David]

24. Pharmaceutical and chemical companies do it all the time.

Bankruptcy judge approves breast implant settlement


November 30, 1999
Web posted at: 12:21 p.m. EST (1721 GMT)

From CNN's Ed Garsten

BAY CITY, Michigan (CNN) -- A federal bankruptcy judge approved a plan Tuesday which could provide payments to 170,000 women who sued Dow Corning Corp. because of health problems related to silicone breast implants.

The settlement provides $3.2 billion to settle the claims by those women. It also provides another $1.3 billion to settle claims by creditors and health care organizations.

Under the plan approved by Judge Arthur Spector, women with severe autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, could receive up to $250,000. However, most of the payments will range from $12,000 to $60,000.

The plan also calls for Dow Corning to pay $5,000 to women who wished to have their implants removed, and up to $25,000 to women whose implants have ruptured.

http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/30/implant.settlement/


Bhopal Accident

Bhopal is probably the site of the greatest industrial disaster in history. Between 1977 and 1984, Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), located within a crowded working class neighborhood in Bhopal, was licensed by the Madhya Pradesh Government to manufacture phosgene, monomethylamine (MMA), methylisocyanate (MIC) and the pesticide carbaryl, also known as Sevin.

<snip>
As a result, MIC and other reaction products, in liquid and vapor form, escaped from the plant into the surrounding areas. There was no warning for people surrounding the plant as the emergency sirens had been switched off. The effect on the people living in the shanty settlements just over the fence was immediate and devastating. Many died in their beds, others staggered from their homes, blinded and choking, to die in the street.

Many more died later after reaching hospitals and emergency aid centers. The early acute effects were vomiting and burning sensations in the eyes, nose and throat, and most deaths have been attributed to respiratory failure. For some, the toxic gas caused such massive internal secretions that their lungs became clogged with fluids, while for others, spasmodic constriction of the bronchial tubes led to suffocation. It is been estimated that at least 3000 people died as a result of this accident, while figures for the number of people injured currently range from 200,000 to 600,000, with an estimated 500,000 typically quoted. The factory was closed down after the accident.

<snip>

The long term effects were made worse by the absence of systems to care for and compensate the victims. Furthermore, safety standards and maintenance procedures at the plant had been deteriorating and ignored for months. A listing of the defects of the MIC unit runs as follows (reference):

More:
http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Pollution/bhopal.htm

[catzies]

23. "Blocking Entrances?!" I thought it was for protesters who bombed

or something worse.

This is a wink and a nod to the RIGHT-WING FANATICAL TERRORISTS who disrupt clinic activities from their GOP enablers.

[Robert Oak]

25. sen. jeff sessions lying through his teeth on C-SPAN now

it's amazingly disgusting to watch "our" representatives defend
credit card companies.

[rodeodance]

27. U.S. Bankruptcy Overhaul Clears Two Hurdles-abortion-related proposal

we heard very little of this amendment which did not fail by much at all.



http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7842635

U.S. Bankruptcy Overhaul Clears Two Hurdles

Tue Mar 8, 2005 03:00 PM ET


By Susan Cornwell



.....The Senate rejected 46-53 the abortion-related proposal that had scuttled the legislation in the last Congress.

This vote was a loss for abortion rights advocates, in the first test of their strength in the new Senate, which has four more Republican members than the last one.

For supporters of abortion rights, "it'll be uphill sledding, that's for sure" in this Congress, said California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein after the vote.

The failed amendment would have prohibited abortion protesters who have committed violent acts -- such as attacking abortion clinics and their staff -- from filing bankruptcy to avoid paying court-ordered fines.