July 09, 2007
Bush justice is a national disgrace
By John S. KoppelAs a longtime attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, I can honestly say that I have never been as ashamed of the department and government that I serve as I am at this time.
The public record now plainly demonstrates that both the DOJ and the government as a whole have been thoroughly politicized in a manner that is inappropriate, unethical and indeed unlawful. The unconscionable commutation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's sentence, the misuse of warrantless investigative powers under the Patriot Act and the deplorable treatment of U.S. attorneys all point to an unmistakable pattern of abuse.
In the course of its tenure since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration has turned the entire government (and the DOJ in particular) into a veritable Augean stable on issues such as civil rights, civil liberties, international law and basic human rights, as well as criminal prosecution and federal employment and contracting practices. It has systematically undermined the rule of law in the name of fighting terrorism, and it has sought to insulate its actions from legislative or judicial scrutiny and accountability by invoking national security at every turn, engaging in persistent fearmongering, routinely impugning the integrity and/or patriotism of its critics, and protecting its own lawbreakers. This is neither normal government conduct nor "politics as usual," but a national disgrace of a magnitude unseen since the days of Watergate - which, in fact, I believe it eclipses.
In more than a quarter of a century at the DOJ, I have never before seen such consistent and marked disrespect on the part of the highest ranking government policymakers for both law and ethics. It is especially unheard of for U.S. attorneys to be targeted and removed on the basis of pressure and complaints from political figures dissatisfied with their handling of politically sensitive investigations and their unwillingness to "play ball." Enough information has already been disclosed to support the conclusion that this is exactly what happened here, at least in the case of former U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias of New Mexico (and quite possibly in several others as well). Law enforcement is not supposed to be a political team sport, and prosecutorial independence and integrity are not "performance problems."
In his long-awaited but uninformative testimony concerning the extraordinary firings of U.S. attorneys, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales did not allay these concerns. Indeed, he faced a no-win situation. If he testified falsely regarding his alleged lack of recollection and lack of involvement, he perjured himself and lied to both Congress and the American people. On the other hand, if he told the truth, he clearly has been derelict in the performance of his duties and is not up to the job. Either way, his fitness to serve is now in doubt.
Tellingly, in his congressional testimony, D. Kyle Sampson (the junior aide to whom the attorney general delegated vast authority) expressed the view that the distinction between "performance" considerations and "political" considerations was "largely artificial." This attitude, however, is precisely the problem. The administration that Sampson served has elided the distinction between government performance and politics to an unparalleled extent (just as it has blurred the boundaries between the White House counsel's office and the attorney general's office). And it is no answer to say that U.S. attorneys are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president. The point that is lost on those who make this argument is that U.S. attorneys must not serve partisan purposes or advance a partisan agenda - which has nothing to do with requiring them to promote an administration's legitimate policy priorities.
As usual, the administration has attempted to minimize the significance of its malfeasance and misfeasance, reciting its now-customary "mistakes were made" mantra, accepting purely abstract responsibility without consequences for its actions, and making hollow vows to do better. However, the DOJ Inspector General's Patriot Act report (which would not even have existed if the administration had not been forced to grudgingly accept a very modest legislative reporting requirement, instead of being allowed to operate in its preferred secrecy), the White House-DOJ e-mails, and now the Libby commutation merely highlight yet again the lawlessness, incompetence and dishonesty of the present executive branch leadership.
They also underscore Congress' lack of wisdom in blindly trusting the administration, largely rubber-stamping its legislative proposals, and essentially abandoning the congressional oversight function for most of the last six years. These are, after all, the same leaders who brought us the WMD fiasco, the unnecessary and disastrous Iraq war, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, warrantless domestic NSA surveillance, the Valerie Wilson leak, the arrest of Brandon Mayfield, and the Katrina response failure. The last thing they deserve is trust.
The sweeping, judicially unchecked powers granted under the Patriot Act should neither have been created in the first place nor permanently renewed thereafter, and the Act - which also contributed to the ongoing contretemps regarding the replacement of U.S. attorneys, by changing the appointment process to invite political abuse - should be substantially modified, if not scrapped outright. And real, rather than symbolic, responsibility should be assigned for the manifold abuses. The public trust has been flagrantly violated, and meaningful accountability is long overdue. Officials who have brought into disrepute both the Department of Justice and the administration of justice as a whole should finally have to answer for it - and the misdeeds at issue involve not merely garden-variety misconduct, but multiple "high crimes and misdemeanors," including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
I realize that this constitutionally protected statement subjects me to a substantial risk of unlawful reprisal from extremely ruthless people who have repeatedly taken such action in the past. But I am confident that I am speaking on behalf of countless thousands of honorable public servants, at Justice and elsewhere, who take their responsibilities seriously and share these views. And some things must be said, whatever the risk.
The views presented in this essay are not representative of the Department of Justice or its employees but are instead the personal views of its author.
John S. Koppel has been a civil appellate attorney with the Department of Justice since 1981.
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October 25, 2006
War on poverty slips from election agenda
Great new article from Reuters:
NEW ORLEANS - On a boat stranded in a street in New Orleans, two words are scrawled: "No politicians."It's not clear if the boat is a remnant of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated this city more than a year ago, but the message of the graffiti is unmistakable: politicians failed to deliver for those who lost their homes in the hurricane.
"They sent boys over there (to Iraq) to fight in a war that never ends. Why didn't they keep the money over here when Americans are suffering," said Gwen Brown, 51, whose home in New Orleans was flooded by Katrina.
Hurricane Katrina exposed an underclass of poor Americans to the rest of the world, but poverty has slipped off the agenda in the runup to midterm congressional elections next month.
"After the hurricane it was easier for a time (to interest people in poverty) but it is ... very hard to maintain national attention unless there is national leadership," former Democratic senator John Edwards said in an interview.
Edwards ran for president in 2004 arguing there were two Americas, one for the well-off and another for those who struggle. When that effort failed, he ran for vice president on John Kerry's ticket. He said he has not decided whether to run again in 2008.
Poverty has been a Democratic issue since President Lyndon Johnson declared a "war on poverty" in 1964, but Edwards said Democrats see risks in promoting the issue, fearing they would be painted as big-government spenders.
An illustration of that is Harold Ford, running for the U.S. Senate for Tennessee, who campaigns on reforming health care but also advocates issues attractive to conservative voters such as opposition to gay marriage and cutting taxes.
U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson warned there were dangers for Democrats who abandoned social justice issues to win elections.
"There is a need to have politicians whose positions represent change for the better and not an accommodation with the worst of our status quo," he told Reuters.
The U.S. Census Bureau said in August one in eight Americans and one in four black people lived in poverty last year.
In all, some 37 million Americans lived below the poverty line, defined as having an annual income around $10,000 for a single person or $20,000 for a family of four, it said.
Robert Rector of the conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank argued there is little actual poverty in the United States and most poor people had a house, car, television, air conditioning, food and medical care.
Democrats only employed the word to stir emotions and "low income status" would be a better description in most cases, Rector said in an interview.
That case gains traction in the United States, a society with a fiercely competitive ethic and a belief that hard work and self-reliance are a sure route to success, making it risky to promote a national goal of helping the poor.
What makes it still harder is that the religious right has hijacked the agenda for Christian voters promoting opposition to abortion and gay marriage but pushing poverty off the agenda, said Jim Wallis, leader of Sojourners, a Christian ministry that promotes spiritual renewal and social justice.
Wallis cited recent research by the Center for American Values in Public Life which indicated that 85 percent of Americans say poverty and affordable health care are more important issues than abortion and same sex marriage.
"The conventional wisdom is that poverty isn't sexy and that nobody wants to talk about poverty ... You need political leaders with the courage to test the proposition," he said.
For many voters in New Orleans, talk of political courage may come too late to dent their cynicism.
Near the stranded boat, the owner of a newly-rebuilt house near the stranded boat has created a mock Hurricane Katrina cemetery, with colorful headstones bearing epitaphs for local politicians and President Bush. One reads: "Bush rebuilt the city -- Baghdad."
Posted by Mike at 11:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
October 24, 2006
Thank you to John Snow
For helping drive down the value of the dollar, so that we can all pretend we are doing well, not on the brink of economic collapse.
Wake me when the Stock Market peaks for real.by Nylund
A big deal has been made recently about how the Dow is now at new peaks, but people forget that the dow is supposed to go up. Over its history it should be making new peaks practically every week.
The truth is, we are now barely above where we were six years ago, and this is hardly something to be proud of. A deeper look into the numbers reveals there is even less to be proud of and that in fact, we have yet to reach the peak of 2000.
Its fairly common knowledge that the DJIA is hardly the ideal index for the market as a whole. If anything, its a quaint relic from the past with a moderate ability to express market trends. That being said, it is a number that the public understands and one that gets a lot of press. So lets take a closer look at the new peaks reached by the Dow.
First thing's first. Is it a big deal that the Dow recently broke new high's? Not really. The Dow is supposed to go up over time. As such, it should be reaching new highs all the time. In fact, its now reaching new highs every few days. On October 3, 2006, the Dow closed at a new high of 11,727.34 and people went crazy. It was the highest it had been in six years. That seems pretty spectacular, but since then, it has reached a new closing high every few days:
11,850.61 October 4, 2006
11,947.70 October 12, 2006
12,011.73 October 19, 2006
12,116.91 October 23, 2006This is much closer to what we'd expect to see from the Dow.
Going back to the last peak six years ago, and looking at the data, you will see that it also "peaked" a week before that, and it peaked another week before that time, and a month before that, and a couple months before that, and a week before that time, and a few days before that time.
It was basically peaking ALL THE TIME, just as it is now. To hear people talk now, you'd think that the DOW has only peaked like 3 times in the entire history of the stock market. This is hardly the case.
In fact, by my count, the Dow reached an "all-time high" 76 times during the Clinton administration.
What should be noted is that under Clinton it went from roughly 3,200 to 11,722. In other words, it went up by 366%.
And now we are supposed to be impressed that in the last 6 years we've gone up around 3%?
As everyone knows, a dollar today ain't want it used to be. Even ignoring grampa's stories about getting a burger for a nickel, we all know that a dollar now is not the same as a dollar six years ago.
Inflation over the last six years has been much higher than 3%, meaning, adjusted for inflation, we still have not yet hit a new peak. to be fair, I should do the same for the Clinton years, but I don't recall inflation being anywhere near 366% during the 90's.
But even if you want to ignore inflation, all we have to do is ask the the rest of the world whether or not we've hit a new peak or not.
At the 2000 peak, the Dow was 7,162 pounds. Now, it is 6,470 pounds. In Euros, the 2000 peak was 11,570, now it is 9,656. In Canadian dollars, it was 16,881, and now its 13,666.
To the rest of the world, we are still a ways off from reaching the peak of 2000.
So has the dow really peaked, or has the dollar just become more worthless? The evidence suggests the latter.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see the market making its way back up, but we still have plenty of way to go, so keep the cork in the champagne a little bit longer people, for even after six years we're really not back to where we once were.
Many of us cheer as the bell rings 12,000 on Wall Street. But we know there are millions for which that bell doesn't toll. In a new Wall Street Journal poll, a huge majority of Americans say the stock market's new heights have had no effect on them. Eighty percent of the work force find their paycheck barely keeping up with inflation. These are the economic strugglers out there who worry not just that they can't get ahead, but they can't hold on.You see their despair in what Democrats are promising voters this year: an uptick in the minimum wage, a promise to leave Social Security alone, a new Medicare drug deal, and government protection of pensions. You feel it in Democratic promises to use subpoena power to probe no-bid government contracts to Halliburton, the giant corporation once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. To punish the oil companies for price-gouging. To probe the secret meetings with the energy executives. And to freeze Congress's own pay until it raises the minimum wage.
It's a far cry from the optimistic 60s, when Jack Kennedy told us, `A rising tide lifts all boats.' [...] The Democrats are saying we're not all in this together---the bells ringing on Wall Street may be clanging for those at the top, but hardly for everyone. The mid-term election results will tell us if voters agree.
-From The Chris Matthews Show
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February 01, 2006
MSNBC: Dancing over MLK's grave
That was disgusting. At 12:21 AM tonight, Tucker Carlson proudly declared - not once but twice - that Martin Luther King "never" supported affirmative action and to say that he would have distorts his great legacy! Tucker said this in response Bush's mention of the death of his widow, Coretta Scott King, less than 24 hours ago.
Not a single member of the panel on Hardball corrected him, or even questioned whether he was right. How low can these ingrates go?
Here is the transcript from MSNBC:
ROSEN: Well, and I would go one step further to—you know, George Bush started out his speech with a tribute to Coretta Scott King. When you think at what he‘s doing to the Supreme Court, goes against everything that Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King stood for.MATTHEWS: How so, by the way. Hilary, why do you say that‘s true?
ROSEN: And nobody commented on that.
MATTHEWS: Why do you say that‘s true?
ROSEN: Well, they‘re against affirmative action. They‘re against gay and lesbian rights. They‘re against the voting rights acts extension. I mean, every single thing...
CARLSON: Well, wait. Since when was Martin Luther King for affirmative action?
MATTHEWS: I defy you to...
ROSEN: Well, Coretta Scott King came out very strongly over the last 15 years for affirmative action. So there‘s just no way that we‘re going go...
MATTHEWS: Admit it, Tucker, you have no idea what Coretta Scott King‘s position on affirmative action was.
TUCKER: I actually...
MATTHEWS: I don‘t.
CARLSON: Look, I‘m not taking any stand against Coretta Scott King. I‘m merely saying, to say that Martin Luther King endorsed affirmative action is a total crock.
Here is an excerpt from the speech MLK gave the night before he died:
It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preachers must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people, individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively, that means all of us together, collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.
We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails, we just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."
And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy—what is the other bread?—Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying, they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right.
If you want more examples, find a copy of "Where Do We Go From Here" which is the book King wrote which advocates - in addition to affirmative action - far more radical efforts to end poverty such as raising the minimum wage to match the median income, anually and changing zoning laws to prevent de facto segregation by wealth.
Tucker Carlson should be ashamed of himself, and so should MSNBC.
Posted by Mike at 12:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
September 30, 2005
Tom Delay and Islamic Hawala
You know, if our key leaders embraced other aspects of Middle Eastern culture this much, we might be making some real progress in the Struggle Against Violent Extremism.
Tom Delay on Hardball with Chris Matthews:
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HARDBALL HOST: A difficult day. The charge from the prosecutor down there, which the grand jury acted on, was that a bunch of people got together, including you, and sent a bunch of corporate checks up to the RNC in Washington. That's corporate contributions, illegal to use in Texas legislative races.In exchange, you said, now send that same money down. You earmarked it for these legislative races, thereby circumventing the spirit of the law, which is no corporate contributions. Is that a fair estimate of the charge?
REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), MAJORITY LEADER: I don't know. It is not in the indictment. I don't know what he's charging me with.
MATTHEWS: Well, I'm reading it from it....
DELAY: You take soft money and use it for legal stuff. If you have more than you need, you send it to one of your friends. It's like your brother-in-law sending you money to pay your rent. And then you send back hard money that can be used in the races. It is not a quid pro quo. In fact, the amount of money you're talking about is different.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
Well, let me ask you this. Let me ask — because Tom Davis is going to be on this show. And the argument we're getting from other people is that there's nothing wrong with you urging some corp or anybody that your former PAC — putting the PAC you're on the board of — to give, say, give a bunch of money to the RNC. They need money. It's a good Republican cause, and then calling up the Republican National Committee and say, why don't you give some money to these legislative candidates? We'd like them to win down there.
That's legal.
DELAY: Yes. It's totally legal.
Hawala as defined by Wikipedia:
Hawala (also known as hundi) is an informal value transfer system used primarily in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.Its origins are not entirely clear, but it is believed to have been used first in the financing of long-distance trade in the early medieval period on trading routes such as the Silk Road, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. Hawala is mentioned in texts of Islamic jurisprudence as early as the 8th century. In South Asia, it appears to have developed into a fully-fledged money market instrument, which was only gradually replaced by the instruments of the formal banking system in the first half of the 20th century. Today hawala is probably used mostly for migrant workers' remittances to their countries of origin.
In the most basic variant of the hawala system, money is transferred via a network of hawala brokers, or hawaladars. A customer approaches a hawala broker in one city and gives a sum of money to be transferred to a recipient in another, usually foreign, city. The hawala broker calls another hawala broker in the recipient's city, gives disposition instructions of the funds (usually minus a small commission), and promises to settle the debt at a later date.
The unique feature of the system is that no promissory instruments are exchanged between the hawala brokers; the transaction takes place entirely on the honor system. As the system does not depend on the legal enforceability of claims, it can operate even in a defunct legal and juridical environment. No records are produced of individual transactions; only a running tally of the amount owed one broker by the other is kept. Settlements of debts between hawala brokers can take a variety of forms, and need not take the form of direct cash transactions....
Hawala is attractive to customers because it provides a fast, convenient and safe transfer of funds, usually with a far lower commission than that charged by banks. Its advantages are most pronounced when the receiving country applies distortive exchange rate regulations (as has been the case for many typical receiving countries such as Pakistan or Egypt) or when the banking system in the receiving country is underdeveloped (e.g. due to weak legal environment in places such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia).
Furthermore, the transfers are informal and not effectively regulated by governments, which is a major advantage to customers with tax, currency control, immigration, or other legal concerns. For the same reasons, governments disfavor the system, and accusations have been made in recent years that terrorist funding often changes hands through hawala networks.
Posted by Mike at 05:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
July 27, 2005
In case you missed it
Looks like the crime is the coverup after all:
July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Two top White House aides have given accounts to a special prosecutor about how reporters first told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to people familiar with the case.Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first learned from NBC News reporter Tim Russert of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador and Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, one person said. Russert has testified before Fitzgerald that he didn't tell Libby of Plame's identity, the person said.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Fitzgerald that he first learned the identity of the CIA agent from syndicated columnist Robert Novak, according to a person familiar with the matter. Novak, who was first to report Plame's name and connection to Wilson, has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor, the person said.
These discrepancies may be important because Fitzgerald is investigating whether Libby, Rove or other administration officials made false statements during the course of the investigation. The Plame case has its genesis in whether anyone violated a 1982 law making it illegal to knowingly reveal the name of a covert intelligence agent.
Posted by Mike at 07:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
July 11, 2005
Rove makes a run for it!
Sorry, I couldn't help it.
White House Won't Comment on Rove, Leak
WASHINGTON - For two years, the White House has insisted that presidential adviser Karl Rove had nothing to do with the leak of a CIA officer's identity. And President Bush said the leaker would be fired.But Bush's spokesman wouldn't repeat any of those assertions Monday in the face of Rove's own lawyer saying his client spoke with at least one reporter about Valerie Plame's role at the CIA before she was identified in a newspaper column.
Rove described the woman to a reporter as someone who "apparently works" at the CIA, according to an e-mail obtained by Newsweek magazine.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan refused to discuss the matter at two news briefings Monday. He said he would not comment because the leak is the focus of a federal criminal investigation.
"The prosecutors overseeing the investigation had expressed a preference to us that one way to help the investigation is not to be commenting on it from this podium," McClellan said in response to a barrage of questions about Rove and the previous White House denials.
"I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said," McClellan said. "And I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time." He said the appropriate time would be when the investigation is completed.
Posted by Mike at 03:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
June 10, 2005
This is the threat worth worrying about
While Bin Laden avoids attacking the US, understanding that it would only help us win back some popular support, the Bush Administration does all it can to expose us to Mad Cow Disease. You and I can't do much about Bin Laden, but we can do something about this.
David Schuster blogging on Hardblogger:
Since this is the time of year when so many of us head to barbecues, I want to alert you to a story you need to know. Our federal government is putting all of us at risk of mad cow disease. And the incompetence and erratic approach of the Department of Agriculture has become so bizarre that one begins to wonder if some officials at that agency are deliberately trying to get fired.First, a refresher: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE is an infectious disease in cattle that causes their brains to degenerate. Animals with the disease will often stagger and become hopelessly agitated before they die, thus the name “mad cow.” The disease is usually fatal to people who eat infected beef. And since the proteins that cause the disease can survive temperatures hot enough to melt lead... turning a hamburger into a hockey puck (while killing off other potential problems) will not make BSE meat safe to eat.
At the moment, there appears to be an outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan... and American researchers are incredibly nervous that we may be on the verge of a deadly mad cow outbreak here in the United States. That’s what makes the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s approach so troubling.
As it stands, the U.S. Department of Agriculture refuses to even consider the main recommendations put forward by the World Health Organization that have stopped mad cow disease across Europe. What are these recommendations? The first is testing. The other is to stop the practice of feeding cow blood, tissue, and slaughterhouse waste to other cows.
I can hear some of you now: “Come on, Shuster, that feeding practice is so grotesque it couldn’t possibly be happening in the United States.”
Actually, it is happening a lot. Sure, there are some livestock producers who don’t give their animals the kind of feed that contains cow blood or waste. But many livestock producers do.
And the fact is, much of the commercially produced calf feed available today contains the very stuff that could spread mad cow disease throughout our food chain.What is the Department of Agriculture doing about this? Nothing. As I said, the Department of Agriculture refuses to even consider stronger regulations that would put an end to this disgusting practice. But it gets even worse. The department is doing everything it can to assure the public that our food chain “is safe.” Thus, we have a ridiculous pep rally like the one on Thursday at the University of Minnesota. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will, as his press release says, “hold a roundtable discussion regarding the safety of North American beef...” Those invited to participate include USDA officials, producers, packers, and others.
Who are the others? Groups that don’t want more testing and don’t want the government passing regulations that would make calf feed cleaner and thus slightly more expensive. In fact, consumer groups, organic livestock companies, and beef producers who oppose allowing cows to eat cow blood and slaughterhouse waste will not be allowed to participate.The irony is that if the Department of Agriculture really cared about the U.S. meat industry, the department would add a little pain now to prevent the industry from being decimated down the road when an outbreak occurs and nobody wants to buy U.S. meat. But once again, it’s all about short-term profits and paying back your political contributors. And consumers are left holding the bag... or in this case, mourning the deaths of loved ones who could die suddenly from the human form of BSE.
Did I mention that American scientists are tracking a mysterious spike in the U.S. of the human form of BSE, known as Creutzfeldt Jakob disease?
I apologize if this blog about cows eating slaughterhouse waste has made you lose your appetite. But, tell that to your congressman or senator. Maybe they will have better luck getting explanations from the government officials who are supposed to be responsible. My calls today to the Department of Agriculture were not returned.
Posted by Mike at 01:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
June 07, 2005
Don't say loyalty isn't rewarded
Rumsfeld, Bolton, Rice, the list keeps growing. It's just The Price of Loyalty that I'm concerned about.
Bouyed by a mixture of jealousy and gumption inspired by rumours of a Blackwell candidacy for Vice President in 2008, Katherine Harris has thrown her hat in the ring, and saved the DSCC some money in Florida next year.
Hell, you break the law and tell bold face lies for someone for months, the least I would settle for was a seat on Supreme Court.
"The time has come to launch a campaign for the U.S. Senate," Harris told The Associated Press.Harris, who is serving her second term in Congress, is considered a top fundraiser and is a popular figure among Republicans. But she is also despised by some Democrats for her role in overseeing the recount that ultimately gave Florida and the White House to George W. Bush over Al Gore. And her entry into the race could galvanize Democratic voters and contributors.
She considered running for the Senate last year after Democrat Bob Graham announced his retirement, but decided to sit it out. The White House had wanted her to stay out of the race for fear her candidacy would produce big turnout among angry Democrats and hurt President Bush's chances of carrying Florida and its crucial 27 electoral votes in 2004.
In 2000, Bush won a 537-vote victory over Gore after a dispute that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. While Democrats accused Harris of partisanship in her handling of the recount, she became the darling of GOP activists and got elected to Congress in 2002.
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May 11, 2005
Bankruptcy Reform Act In Action
While apparently doing nothing to prevent corporations who are still in business from defaulting on pensions promised to their employees, at least the new bankruptcy law won't let those lazy retirees get out from under their new found mountains of debt without going back to work. Ah, the smell of progress. Or wait, is something burning?
Judge Approves End of United Pension Plans
CHICAGO - A federal bankruptcy judge approved United Airlines' plan to terminate its employees' pension plans on Tuesday, clearing the way for the largest corporate-pension default in American history.The ruling, which carries broad implications for U.S. airlines and their workers, shifts responsibility for United's four defined-benefit plans to the government's pension agency.
That will save cash-strapped United an estimated $645 million a year, part of the $2 billion in annual savings it says it needs to line up enough financing to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as soon as this fall.
But the cost will be painful to its employees, many of whom stand to lose thousands of dollars annually off their pensions when they are assumed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. A total of 120,000 current and retired United workers are covered by the pensions, including 62,000 active employees.
Here's my nominee for understatement of the year:
"This is not in any way a joyous day."United's Chief Financial Officer Jake Brace
Posted by Mike at 12:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
April 25, 2005
Spreading democracy Palm Beach County syle
Ah, Democracy. The great mission of American leadership in the world.
From the Capital Times in Wisconsin:
"I'm with the Bush-Cheney team, and I'm here to stop the count."
Those were the words John Bolton yelled as he burst into a Tallahassee library on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2000, where local election workers were recounting ballots cast in Florida's disputed presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore.Bolton was one of the pack of lawyers for the Republican presidential ticket who repeatedly sought to shut down recounts of the ballots from Florida counties before those counts revealed that Gore had actually won the state's electoral votes and the presidency.
The Dec. 9 intervention was Bolton's last and most significant blow against the democratic process.
The Florida Supreme Court had ordered a broad recount of ballots in order to finally resolve the question of who won the state. But Bolton and the Bush-Cheney team got their Republican allies on the U.S. Supreme Court to block the review. Fearing that each minute of additional counting would reveal the reality of voter sentiments in Florida, Bolton personally rushed into the library to stop the count.
Bolton was in South Korea when it became clear that the Nov. 7, 2000, election would be decided in Florida. At the behest of former Secretary of State James Baker, who fronted the Bush-Cheney team during the Florida fight, Bolton winged his way to Palm Beach, where he took the lead in challenging ballots during that county's recount. Then, when the ballots from around the state were transported to Tallahassee for the recount ordered by the state Supreme Court, Bolton followed them.
It was there that he personally shut down the review of ballots from Miami-Dade County, a populous and particularly contested county where independent reviews would later reveal that hundreds of ballots that could reasonably have been counted for Gore were instead discarded.
Miami-Dade County Elections Supervisor David Leahy argued at the time that 2,257 voters had apparently attempted to mark ballot cards for Gore or Bush but had not had them recorded because they had been improperly inserted into the voting machines. A hand count of those ballots revealed that 302 more of them would have gone for Gore than Bush. That shift in the numbers from just one of Florida's 67 counties would have erased more than half of Bush's 537-vote lead in the state.
But attempts to conduct a hand count were repeatedly blocked by the Bush-Cheney team, culminating with Bolton's Dec. 9 announcement, "I'm here to stop the count." A few days later, the U.S. Supreme Court would stop the count permanently, with a pro-Bush ruling in which five Republican-appointed justices, in the words of noted attorney Vincent Bugliosi, "committed the unpardonable sin of being a knowing surrogate for the Republican Party instead of being an impartial arbiter of the law."
Bolton was a key player in the fight to delay the Florida count long enough to allow for the Supreme Court's intervention, and he got his reward quickly. Despite his record of making controversial and sometimes bizarre statements regarding international affairs, he was selected by the Bush administration in 2001 to serve as undersecretary of state for arms control. And he is now in line to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Before he is given that position, and charged with the job of promoting the spread of democracy around the world, however, senators would do well to consider the disregard John Bolton showed for democracy in Florida.
John Nichols is associate editor for The Capital Times. He is the author of "Jews for Buchanan" (The New Press, 2002), a review of the Florida recount fight that was hailed by Studs Terkel as "the best thing anyone has written on that whole damn election."
Posted by Mike at 12:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
April 08, 2005
This about sums it up
Imagine this: On his next trip to Japan, President Bush visits the vault at the Bank of Japan, where that country's $712 billion in United States government bonds is stored. There, as the cameras roll, he announces that the bonds, backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, are, in fact, worthless i.o.u.'s. He does the same thing when he visits China and so on around the world, until he has personally repudiated the entire $2 trillion of United States debt held by foreigners.Mr. Bush rehearsed just that act on Tuesday, when he visited the office of the federal Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, W.Va. He posed next to a file cabinet that holds the $1.7 trillion in Treasury securities that make up the Social Security trust fund. He tossed off a comment to the effect that the bonds were not "real assets." Later, in a speech at a nearby university, he said: "There is no trust fund. Just i.o.u.'s that I saw firsthand."
Social Security takes in more money than it needs to pay current beneficiaries, and the excess is invested in the Treasury securities that Mr. Bush was discussing. They carry the same legal and political obligations as all other forms of Treasury debt, every penny of which has always been paid in full and on time.
In his speech, Mr. Bush went on to acknowledge that future generations would have to make good on the debt. But the intended meaning of the photo-op was clear. In the hope of persuading people to privatize Social Security - a move that would only add to the growing debt burden for future generations - Mr. Bush wants Americans to believe that the trust fund is a joke. But if the trust fund is a joke, so is the full faith and credit of the United States....
Posted by Mike at 09:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
March 09, 2005
Talk about kicking people when they're down
Well, it's as good as law. Biden and Lieberman among others voted for cloture, so not even a change of heart on their part can save the 50% who file for bankruptcy due to medical expenses, now.
Professor Elizabeth Warren sums up the bankruptcy bill:
The bill is more than 500 pages long, all in highly technical language. But the overall thrust is pretty clear:Make debtors pay more to creditors, both in bankruptcy and after bankruptcy, so that a bankruptcy filing will leave a family with more credit card debt, higher car loans, more owed to their banks and to payday lenders.
Make it more expensive to file for bankruptcy by driving up lawyers fees with new paperwork, new affidavits, and new liability for lawyers, so that the people in the most trouble cant afford to file.
Make more hurdles and traps, with deadlines that a judge cannot waive even if someone has a heart attack or an ex-husband who wont give up a copy of the tax returns, so that more people will get pushed out of bankruptcy with no discharge.
Make it harder to repay debts in Chapter 13 by increasing the payments necessary to confirm in a repayment plan, so that more people will be pushed out of bankruptcy without ever getting a discharge of debt.
There are people who abuse the system, but this bill lets them off. Millionaires will still be welcome to use the unlimited homestead exemption. And if they dont want to buy a home there, they can just tuck their millions of dollars into a trust, a millionaires loophole that lets them keep everythingif they can afford a smart, high-priced lawyer.
I dont get paid by anybody on any side of this fight. I just think it isnt fair.
Kevin Drum provides the motive:
"According to R.K. Hammer Investment Bankers, a California credit card consulting firm, banks collected $14.8 billion in penalty fees last year, or 10.9 percent of revenue, up from $10.7 billion, or 9 percent of revenue, in 2002, the first year the firm began to track penalty fees."That's a $4 billion increase in penalty revenue in two years in case you're keeping score at home.
And you have to love this: that penalty rate of 30-40% can be imposed for missing a single payment in fact, in can be imposed for missing a single payment on a different account, like your telephone bill but a card spokesman said this was perfectly reasonable because it was "clearly disclosed on account applications." Something tells me that their idea of "clearly disclosed" is a wee bit different from most people's.
Bottom line: credit card companies now make half their profits from penalties and late fees. They actively seek out customers who are likely to miss payments and end up in a penalty fee spiral, and they make a fortune from them. In a normally functioning market there's at least a small incentive to limit loans to these high-risk customers, namely the possibility that they might go bankrupt, and the bankruptcy bill before Congress is a brazen attempt to remove even that small but annoying incentive to act responsibly.
Credit card companies want the ability to make risky loans, but they also want federal protection that protects them from bearing the risk that goes along with making those loans. That's a pretty cushy setup, as long as you can buy yourself enough politicians to make it happen. Apparently they can.
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 28 to to S. 256 (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 )Statement of Purpose: To exempt debtors whose financial problems were caused by serious medical problems from means testing.
YEAs 39
NAYs 58
Not Voting 3Biden (D-DE), Nay (MBNA headquarters located in Wilmington.)
Carper (D-DE), Nay (JP Morgan Chase also located in Wilmington.)
Johnson (D-SD), Nay (Citibank headquarters located in Sioux Falls.)
Nelson (D-NE), Nay (First National headquarters located in Omaha.)
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 37 to to S. 256 (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 )Statement of Purpose: To exempt debtors from means testing if their financial problems were caused by identity theft.
YEAs 37
NAYs 61
Posted by Mike at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 04, 2005
ChoicePoint shows it's true colors
ChoicePoint CEO Derek Smith speaks during an interview Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005 in Atlanta. Smith and president Douglas Curling made a combined $16.6 million in profit from selling company shares in the months after the company learned of fraud involving its massive database and before the breach was made public, regulatory filings show. Corporate governance experts say the pattern and timing of the trading raises questions, while ChoicePoint says the stock trading plan was pre-arranged.
In case you forgot, Martha Stewart got prison time for lying about a $40,000 insider trading charge of which she was never proven guilty.
Posted by Mike at 03:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)
March 01, 2005
So what's next? Indentured servitude?
I'm not knocking the idea or anything, I know there was an indentured servant or two among the first members of the family tree to make it to the New World. Granted that was four hundred years ago, but I suppose there are always those who yearn for the "Good Old Days" huh?
Summary of the new bankruptcy bill now in Congress:
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 - Title I: Needs-Based Bankruptcy - (Sec. 101) Amends Federal bankruptcy law to revamp guidelines governing dismissal or conversion of a Chapter 7 liquidation (complete relief in bankruptcy), to one under either Chapter 11 (Reorganization), or Chapter 13 (Adjustment of Debts of an Individual with Regular Income).Permits the bankruptcy court to convert a Chapter 7 case to either Chapter 11 or 13 with a debtor's consent. (Current law requires the debtor's request for such a conversion.)
(Sec. 102) Permits the court upon its own motion, or upon the motion of the bankruptcy trustee, bankruptcy administrator, or any party in interest, to move for a dismissal. (Current law prohibits a party in interest from entering such motions.)
Lowers the "substantial abuse" standard for dismissal or conversion to one of simple abuse.
Replaces the presumption in favor of granting the relief sought by the debtor with a presumption that abuse exists if the debtor's current monthly income exceeds an amount determined according to specified formulae.
Includes within the calculation of debtor's monthly expenses: (1) reasonably necessary expenses incurred to maintain the safety of the debtor and the debtor's family from family violence as identified under the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act; (2) continuation of actual expenses paid by the debtor for the care and support of an elderly, chronically ill, or disabled household or non-dependent immediate family member; and (3) an additional allowance for housing and utilities based upon documented home energy expenses.
Provides that the presumption of abuse may only be rebutted with detailed documentation of special circumstances requiring additional expenses or adjustment of current monthly total income for which there is no reasonable alternative.
Requires the debtor's counsel to reimburse the bankruptcy trustee for legal fees in prosecuting a dismissal or conversion motion if the court finds that counsel's filing under Chapter 7 was in violation of certain bankruptcy rules.
Requires the court, upon motion by the victim of a crime of violence or a drug trafficking crime (or at the request of a party in interest), to dismiss a voluntary case filed by an individual debtor convicted of that crime (unless the debtor establishes that filing of the case is necessary to satisfy a claim for a domestic support obligation).
Redefines "disposable income" of a chapter 13 debtor to exclude a domestic support obligation that first becomes payable after the date the petition is filed.
Cites circumstances under which a chapter 13 wage earner's plan may be modified after confirmation to include a special allowance for health insurance coverage.
And a few hundred other new requirements on debtors (aka the owned).
(Sec. 103) Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of the Treasury has the authority to alter Internal Revenue Service (IRS) standards established to set guidelines for repayment plans as needed to accommodate their use under the Bankruptcy Code.Instructs the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees to report to certain congressional committees regarding the use of IRS standards for determining specified monthly debtor expenses and the impact of such standards upon debtors and the bankruptcy courts.
(Sec. 104) Revises procedural guidelines to mandate a written notice to the individual consumer debtor before commencement of a case stating: (1) the types of services available from credit counseling agencies; (2) the criminal penalties for fraudulent concealment of assets; and (3) that all creditor-supplied information is subject to examination by the Attorney General.
(Sec. 105) Instructs the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees to: (1) develop a financial management training curriculum and materials to educate individual debtors on how to better manage their finances; and (2) test, evaluate, and report to Congress on the curriculum's efficacy.
(Sec. 106) Precludes an individual debtor from filing under Federal bankruptcy law unless the individual has received a briefing from an approved nonprofit budget and credit counseling service prior to filing a bankruptcy petition, unless the U.S. trustee or bankruptcy administrator determines that the service for the district in which the debtor lives is not reasonably able to provide adequate services to the additional individuals who would otherwise seek credit counseling because of such requirement.
Conditions a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 discharge in bankruptcy upon the debtor's completion of an approved instructional course concerning personal financial management.
Requires the clerk of each district to maintain a public list of credit counseling agencies and instructional courses concerning personal financial management. Prescribes criteria for approval of such agencies and courses.
Prohibits such a counseling service from informing a credit reporting agency whether an individual debtor has received or sought personal financial management instruction. Establishes civil penalties for noncompliance.
(Sec. 107) Requires the Director of the Executive Office for United States Trustees to issue schedules of reasonable and necessary administrative expenses of administering a chapter 13 plan for each judicial district of the United States.
Title II: Enhanced Consumer Protection - Subtitle A: Penalties for Abusive Creditor Practices - (Sec. 201) Cites circumstances under which the court may reduce a claim based upon unsecured consumer debts by up to 20 percent if the debtor can show by clear and convincing evidence that the claim was filed by a creditor who unreasonably refused to negotiate a reasonable alternative repayment schedule proposed by an approved credit counseling agency acting on the debtor's behalf.
(Sec. 202) States that a creditor's willful failure to credit payments received from a debtor is a violation of a discharge operating as an injunction against a collection action if such failure caused material injury to the debtor (with certain exceptions).
(Sec. 203) Modifies debt reaffirmation guidelines governing wholly unsecured consumer debts to mandate specified detailed disclosures and explanations to the debtor for dischargeable debt agreements. Exempts a Credit Union creditor from such detailed disclosures and explanations.
Amends Federal criminal law to instruct the Attorney General to designate U.S. attorneys and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to implement enforcement activities relating to: (1) abusive reaffirmations of debt; and (2) materially fraudulent statements in bankruptcy schedules that are intentionally false or misleading. Directs the bankruptcy court to establish procedures referring those cases to the U.S. attorneys and FBI agents.
(Sec. 204) Preserves consumer claims and defenses against predatory loans that have been sold by the bankruptcy trustee and that are subject to either the Truth in Lending Act or any consumer credit contract.
(Sec. 205) Instructs the General Accounting Office to study and report to Congress on the overall treatment of consumers within the context of the debt reaffirmation process, including recommendations for legislation to address abusive or coercive tactics.
Subtitle B: Priority Child Support - (Sec. 212) Revises priority payment guidelines to place within the first priority claim category certain unsecured claims for domestic support obligations, if the funds received by a governmental unit are applied in a prescribed order. Grants priority over such claims, however, to specified administrative expenses of certain trustees.
(Sec. 213) Conditions court confirmation of a debt repayment plan under Chapters 11, 12 (Debts of a Family Farmer), and 13 upon certification that the debtor has payed in full all adjudicated domestic support obligations that become due after the petition filing date.
(Sec. 214) Excepts from an automatic stay specified choses-in-action pertaining to domestic support obligations proceedings including: (1) child custody or visitation; (2) dissolution of marriage; (3) domestic violence; (4) withholding of income that is property of the bankrupt estate for payment of domestic support obligations; (5) suspension of drivers' licenses and professional licenses; (6) reporting of overdue support owed by a parent to certain consumer reporting agencies; (7) interception of specified tax refunds; and (8) enforcement of medical obligations under title IV, part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) of the Social Security Act.
(Sec. 215) Revamps guidelines governing the nondischargeability of certain debts for alimony, maintenance, and support to repeal the exceptions granted the debtor under specified conditions.
(Sec. 216) Modifies guidelines governing property exempt from the bankruptcy estate to declare such property liable for a debt arising from domestic support obligations.
(Sec. 217) Prohibits the bankruptcy trustee from avoiding a transfer that is a bona fide payment of a debt for a domestic support obligation.
(Sec. 218) Excludes income payments for postpetition domestic support obligations from "disposable income" for purposes of a Chapter 12 confirmation plan.
(Sec. 219) Sets forth the duties of the bankruptcy trustee to notify the claim holder and the appropriate State child support agency of the debtor's last known address.
(Sec. 220) Declares dischargeable debts for certain qualified educational loans which, if not discharged, would impose an undue hardship upon either the debtor or the debtor's dependent.
Subtitle C: Other Consumer Protections - (Sec. 221) Modifies guidelines governing nonattorney bankruptcy petition preparers to mandate that as a prerequisite to any collection of fees for services: (1) such preparers officially disclose to debtors that they cannot practice law or give legal advice; and (2) such disclosure be signed by the debtor and filed with the requisite court documents. Prescribes enforcement and penalty guidelines for preparer noncompliance.
(Sec. 222) Expresses the sense of Congress that States should develop curricula relating to personal finance designed for use in elementary and secondary schools.
(Sec. 223) Places in tenth order of priority death or personal injury claims against the bankrupt estate that arise from debtor's unlawful operation of a motor vehicle or vessel while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
(Sec. 224) Permits an individual debtor to exempt from the property of the bankrupt estate certain tax-exempt retirement funds that have not been obligated in connection with any extension of credit.
Excepts from an automatic stay certain income withheld from debtor's wages.
Excepts from a discharge in bankruptcy amounts owed by the debtor to certain plans established under the Internal Revenue Code.
Sets a cap on debtor's retirement funds that debtor may exempt from the estate in bankruptcy.
(Sec. 225) Sets forth criteria for excluding certain education individual retirement accounts from the property of the bankruptcy estate if the designated beneficiary is the debtor's child or grandchild.
(Sec. 227) Sets forth restrictions on debt relief agency practices. Establishes civil penalties for intentional violations. Requires a debt relief agency providing bankruptcy assistance to provide prescribed disclosures to the assisted person.
(Sec. 230) Instructs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the feasibility, effectiveness, and cost of requiring bankruptcy trustees to promptly provide the Office of Child Support Enforcement with debtor's name, social security account, and address upon commencement of the case.
(Sec. 231) Prohibits a bankruptcy trustee from selling or leasing to unaffiliated third parties, personally identifiable information possessed by the debtor concerning an individual if that is contrary to the debtor's privacy policy, unless specified conditions have been met, or the court approves such sale or lease after a consumer privacy ombudsman has been appointed.
(Sec. 232) Prescribes procedural guidelines for appointment of a consumer privacy ombudsman.
(Sec. 233) States that a debtor may be required to provide information regarding a minor child in a bankruptcy case, but may not be required to disclose the child's name in the public records of the case. Prohibits bankruptcy officials from disclosing the name maintained in a nonpublic record.
Title III: Discouraging Bankruptcy Abuse - (Sec. 301) Modifies exceptions to a discharge in bankruptcy to prohibit discharge of a filing fee imposed by any court upon a prisoner.
(Sec. 302) Terminates the automatic stay 30 days after filing of a petition if a chapter 7, 11, or 13 petition was pending and dismissed within the preceding year, unless the subsequent filing is in good faith. Delineates conditions under which a history of previous petitions in bankruptcy gives rise to a rebuttable presumption that the case is not filed in good faith.
(Sec. 303) Directs the court to grant two-year relief from the automatic stay upon request of a party in interest in connection with certain real property actions if the court finds that filing the bankruptcy petition was part of a scheme to delay, hinder, and defraud creditors.
(Sec. 304) Modifies debtor's duties to mandate specified affirmative actions incumbent upon a chapter 7 debtor, including reaffirmation of the debt, or redemption of the property within 45 days, in order to retain possession of personal property. Allows a creditor to take action with respect to such property under nonbankruptcy law if the debtor fails to act within 45 days, unless the court determines upon trustee motion that such property is of consequential value or benefit to the estate.
(Sec. 305) Terminates the automatic stay governing property of the debtor's estate that secures a claim, or is subject to an unexpired lease, if the debtor fails to complete within a revised, accelerated time frame an intended surrender of consumer debt collateral, or an intended property redemption, or debt reaffirmation to retain such collateral (unless the court determines upon trustee motion that such property is of consequential value or benefit to the estate).
(Sec. 306) Requires the bankruptcy court to confirm a Chapter 13 plan if it provides that the holder of a secured allowed claim shall retain the attendant lien until payment or discharge of all debts.
Provides that if a Chapter 13 proceeding is dismissed or converted without completion of the plan, the holder shall retain such lien to the extent recognized by applicable nonbankruptcy law.
States that statutory guidelines to determine the secured status of a creditor's claim do not apply if: (1) the creditor has a purchase money security interest securing the debt; (2) the underlying debt was incurred within the 910 day period preceding the filing of the petition; and (3) the collateral for that debt consists of a motor vehicle acquired for the debtor's personal use (or if the collateral consists of any other thing of value if the debt was incurred during the one-year period preceding such filing).
(Sec. 307) Increases from 180 days to 730 days the duration of debtor's domicile for purposes of determining which State law governs the debtor's selection of property exempt from the bankrupt estate. Provides for determination of an immediately earlier domicile if the debtor's domicile has not been located in a single State for the 730-day period. Allows a debtor to exempt certain property if the effect of the domiciliary requirement is to render the debtor otherwise ineligible for any exemption.
(Sec. 308) Requires reduction of the value of the homestead exemption to the extent that it is attributable to any portion of property disposed of in the ten-year period before the petition filing date with the intent to hinder, delay, or defraud a creditor.
(Sec. 309) Revises requirements governing the effects of conversion from chapter 13 to another chapter. Declares that: (1) valuations of property and of allowed secured claims in a chapter 13 case shall not apply in a case converted to chapter 7; and (2) with respect to cases converted from Chapter 13, the claim of any creditor holding security as of the date of the petition shall continue to be secured by that security unless the full claim amount, as determined under applicable nonbankruptcy law, has been paid in full as of the conversion date. States that a prebankruptcy default shall have the effect given under applicable nonbankruptcy law unless it has been fully cured pursuant to the plan at the time of conversion.
Provides for a Chapter 7 debtor's assumption of unexpired leases of personal property. Declares that in a Chapter 11 case in which the debtor is an individual, and in a Chapter 13 case, if the lease is not assumed in the plan, it is rejected (thus no longer subject to an automatic stay).
Delineates a cash payment plan for chapter 13 debtors for payments to any lessor of personal property and to any creditor holding a claim secured by personal property in order to ensure adequate protection to the claim holder during the payment period. Requires a debtor-in-possession to provide reasonable evidence of any requisite insurance coverage with respect to the use or ownership of such property.
(Sec. 310) Revamps nondischargeability guidelines to narrow the window of dischargeability from $1,075 to $500, for aggregate consumer debts owed to a single creditor on luxury goods incurred within 90 days (currently 60 days) prior to the order for bankruptcy relief. Reduces, likewise, from $1,075 to $750, nondischargeable cash advances that are extensions of consumer credit under an open end credit plan if acquired within 70 days (currently 60 days).
(Sec. 311) Denies an automatic stay of specified residential real property eviction proceedings by a lessor against a debtor if: (1) the lessor obtained judgment for possession prior to the bankruptcy filing date; or (2) lessor furnishes certification of specified debtor offenses.
(Sec. 312) Extends the time between Chapter 7 discharges from six to eight years. Denies a chapter 13 discharge to any debtor who has received a discharge: (1) in a chapter 7, 11, or 12 case within the preceding four years; or (2) in another chapter 13 case within the preceding two years.
(Sec. 313) Defines a debtor's household goods to include specified items. Excludes from such goods: (1) electronic entertainment equipment, antiques or jewelry with more than $500 in aggregate fair market value; (2) works of art; (3) more than one personal computer and related equipment; and (4) motor vehicles, boats, motorized recreational devices, conveyances, vehicles, watercraft, or aircraft. Requires the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees to report to specified congressional committees about use of this definition of household goods with respect to: (1) the avoidance of nonpossessory, nonpurchase money security interests in household goods; and (2) the impact that such definition has had on debtors and on the bankruptcy courts.
(Sec. 314) Includes as nondischargeable chapter 13 debts those incurred: (1) to pay a tax to a non-Federal governmental unit; (2) for restitution or a criminal fine included in a sentence on the debtor's conviction of a crime; (3) for fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity; or (4) for restitution, or damages, awarded in a civil action against the debtor as a result of willful or malicious injury by the debtor that caused personal injury or death to an individual.
(Sec. 315) Prescribes notice procedures for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 creditors.
Expands debtor's duties to require filing with the bankruptcy court of: (1) Federal tax returns; (2) evidence of employer payments received; (3) monthly net income projections; and (4) anticipated income or expenditure increases. Permits a Chapter 7 or chapter 13 creditor to request the debtor's petition, tax schedules, and statement of affairs, including the debt adjustment plan filed by the debtor.
Requires dismissal of a Chapter 7 or 13 case upon debtor's failure to provide to the bankruptcy trustee within seven days before the initial date for the first meeting of creditors a tax return for the latest taxable period prior to filing.
Mandates that, at the time of filing with the taxing authority, a Chapter 7 or 13 debtor file with the bankruptcy court specified tax documentation pertaining to the period from case commencement until case termination.
Requires a Chapter 13 debtor to file with the court a statement of income and expenditures in the preceding tax year, and monthly net income, showing how calculated.
Makes debtor's mandatory documentation available for inspection and copying to certain bankruptcy officers and any party in interest. Requires debtors to furnish driver's license, passport, or other photograph-containing documentation establishing debtor identification.
(Sec. 316) Mandates automatic dismissal if a voluntary Chapter 7 or 13 debtor fails to furnish all mandatory information, or fails to timely file the requisite schedules within 45 days of filing a petition. Requires the court to order dismissal within five days of a request by a party in interest for debtor's failure to timely submit requisite documentation. Permits the court, upon trustee motion, to decline to dismiss a case if the debtor made a good faith effort to file all required information and the best interests of creditors would be served by administration of the case.
(Sec. 317) Requires a Chapter 13 confirmation hearing to be held not later than 45 days after the first meeting of creditors.
(Sec. 318) Sets forth a statutory formula to determine whether a Chapter 13 debt readjustment payment plan shall be of either three-year or five-year duration.
(Sec. 319) Expresses the sense of the Congress that rule 9011 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure should include a requirement that all debtors' documents be submitted to the court only after debtors have made reasonable inquiry to verify that all information therein is well grounded in fact, and warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for extension, modification, or reversal of existing law.
(Sec. 320) Revises automatic stay guidelines to provide that in the case of an individual filing under Chapters 7, 11, or 13, the automatic stay shall terminate 60 days after a request for its release by a party in interest, unless the court orders, or the parties agree to a longer time.
(Sec. 321) Revamps guidelines governing a Chapter 11 business reorganization case filed by an individual to: (1) identify the property of the estate in bankruptcy; and (2) revise the contents, confirmation, and modification of a reorganization plan.
(Sec. 322) States that a debtor may not exempt a homestead interest acquired during the 1215-day period preceding petition filing which exceeds in the aggregate $125,000 in value in specified real or personal property. Exempts from such limitation the principal residence of a family farmer.
(Sec. 323) Excludes employee benefit plan participant contributions from the property of the bankruptcy estate.
(Sec. 324) Amends the Federal judicial code to grant the district court presiding over a title 11 case exclusive jurisdiction over: (1) property of the debtor and the estate in bankruptcy; and (2) actions pertaining to employment of professionals by the bankruptcy trustee, or related disclosure rules.
(Sec. 325) Revises U.S. Trustee program filing fees (currently $155 for either chapter 7 or chapter 13) to $160 for chapter 7 and $150 for chapter 13. Revises requirements for deposit of portions of such fees as offsetting collections in the United States Trustee System Fund by increasing the current 27.42 percent of such fees to 40.63 percent of the chapter 7 fee and 70 percent of the chapter 13 fee.
(Sec. 326) Exempts from the prohibition against sharing of compensation or reimbursement with respect to administrative expenses of a debtor's estate any sharing, or agreeing to share, compensation with a bona fide public service attorney referral program that operates in accordance with non-Federal law regulating attorney referral services, and with rules of professional responsibility applicable to attorney acceptance of referrals.
(Sec. 327) States that if the debtor is an individual chapter 7 or 13 debtor the value of personal property securing an allowed claim shall be determined based on its replacement value as of the date of petition filing without deduction for costs of sale or marketing.
(Sec. 328) Revises requirements for the assumption by a trustee of a defaulted executory contract or unexpired lease. Exempts from the requirement that the trustee cure such a default any default that is a breach of a provision relating to the satisfaction of any non-penalty provision relating to a default arising from any failure to perform nonmonetary obligations under an unexpired lease of real property, if it is impossible for the trustee to cure such default by performing nonmonetary acts at and after the time of assumption. Provides, however, that if such default arises from a failure to operate in accordance with a nonresidential real property lease, then such default shall be cured by performance at and after the time of assumption in accordance with such lease, and pecuniary losses resulting from such default shall be compensated in accordance with specified law.
Makes the same exception to requirements a plan must meet to avoid impairing a class of claims or interests. Requires a plan, to avoid impairment, to compensate a claim holder for any actual pecuniary loss incurred by such holder resulting from a failure to perform a nonmonetary obligation, other than a default arising from failure to operate a non-residential real property lease subject to certain requirements.
(Sec. 329) Expands permissible administrative expenses to include certain wages and benefits awarded as back pay (resulting from a debtor employer's violation of law), if the court determines that the award will not substantially increase the probability of layoff or termination of current employees or nonpayment of domestic support obligations during the case.
(Sec. 330) Instructs the court to withhold a debtor's discharge upon its reasonable belief that a proceeding is pending in which debtor may be found guilty of a felony, or become liable for specified debts.
(Sec. 331) Prescribes guidelines for the denial as an allowance as an administrative expense certain retention bonuses, severance pay, and transfers or obligations incurred for the benefit of officers, managers, or consultants hired after the date of the filing of the bankruptcy petition.
Title IV: General and Small Business Bankruptcy Provisions - Subtitle A: General Business Bankruptcy Provisions - (Sec. 401) Denies a debtor an automatic stay of: (1) the commencement of an investigation or action by a securities self-regulatory organization to enforce compliance with its regulations; (2) the enforcement of any order or decision obtained by such an organization, other than for monetary sanctions; or (3) any act taken by the securities self-regulatory organization to delist, delete, or refuse to permit quotation of any stock that does not meet applicable regulatory requirements.
(Sec. 402) Authorizes the bankruptcy court, upon request of a party in interest, to order that the U.S. trustee not convene a meeting of creditors or equity security holders if the debtor has filed a plan for which acceptances have been solicited before commencement of the case.
(Sec. 403) Increases from ten days to 30 days the length of time for the perfection of a transfer of property with respect to a trustee's authority to avoid such a transfer.
(Sec. 404) Amends guidelines for rejection and surrender of executory contracts and unexpired leases.
(Sec. 405) Authorizes a Chapter 11 trustee to increase the membership of a committee of creditors and equity security holders to include a creditor that is a small business concern following the court's determination that such creditor holds claims of the kind represented by the committee, the aggregate amount of which is disproportionately large in comparison to the creditor's annual gross revenue. Requires such committee to provide access to information to certain creditors who are not committee members.
(Sec. 406) Prohibits the bankruptcy trustee from avoiding a warehouseman's lien for costs incidental to the storage and handling of certain goods.
(Sec. 407) Directs the bankruptcy court to treat the compensation awarded a trustee as a commission.
(Sec. 408) States that acceptance or rejection of a chapter 11 plan may be solicited from a holder of a claim or interest if: (1) the solicitation complies with applicable nonbankruptcy law; and (2) it was made before commencement of the case in a manner complying with applicable nonbankruptcy law.
(Sec. 409) Prohibits the bankruptcy trustee from avoiding a transfer if, in a case filed by a debtor whose debts are not primarily consumer debts, the aggregate value of all property that constitutes or is affected by such transfer is less than $5,000.
(Sec. 411) Limits the extensions of time permitted for filing a Chapter 11 reorganization plan.
(Sec. 412) Denies a discharge in bankruptcy for a debt for a fee or assessment arising from a debtor's interest in a lot in a homeowners association for as long as the debtor retains specified interests in such lot.
(Sec. 413) Authorizes a creditor holding a consumer debt to participate in a meeting of creditors in a chapter 7 or 13 case, either alone or in conjunction with an attorney.
(Sec. 414) Redefines "disinterested person" to repeal conflict-of-interest proscriptions that disqualify the debtor's pre-bankruptcy investment banker and attendant attorney adviser from continuing advisory services as part of the debtor-in-bankruptcy proceedings.
(Sec. 418) Amends the Federal judicial code to authorize the district court or bankruptcy court to waive the Chapter 7 filing fee and other attendant fees for certain Chapter 7 debtors whom the court has determined to be unable to pay fees in installments.
(Sec. 419) Directs the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United States (Advisory Committee) to propose amended Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and Official Bankruptcy Forms directing chapter 11 debtors to disclose information relating to the value, operations, and profitability of any closely held corporation, partnership, or other entity in which the debtor holds a substantial or controlling interest.
Subtitle B: Small Business Bankruptcy Provisions - (Sec. 431) Sets forth mandatory factors for court consideration in determining whether the disclosure statement regarding a small business reorganization plan provides adequate information.
(Sec. 432) Defines a small business debtor, generally, as a person (including a debtor affiliate) with not more than $2 million in aggregate non-contingent, liquidated secured and unsecured debts as of the date of the petition or the order for relief (excluding debts owed to affiliates or insiders).
(Sec. 433) Directs the Advisory Committee to propose for adoption standardized disclosure statements and plans of reorganization for small business debtors.
(Sec. 434) Sets forth uniform national reporting requirements for small business debtors.
(Sec. 435) Directs the Advisory Committee to propose for adoption revisions to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and Official Bankruptcy Forms enabling small business debtors to comply with such uniform national reporting requirements.
(Sec. 436) Sets forth duties and administrative procedures in small business reorganization cases, including serial filer provisions and expanded grounds for dismissal or conversion and appointment of a trustee.
(Sec. 443) Directs the Small Business Administration to study and report to Congress on: (1) the factors that cause small businesses to become debtors in bankruptcy; and (2) how Federal bankruptcy laws can be made more efficient in assisting small businesses to retain their viability.
(Sec. 444) Revises the circumstance precluding relief from an automatic stay of an act against secured single asset real estate by a creditor whose claim is secured by an interest in such real estate. Precludes such relief where a debtor has commenced monthly payments to each such creditor that may, in the debtor's sole discretion, be made from rents or other income generated before or after the commencement of the case by or from the property. Requires such payments to be in an amount equal to the interest at the then-applicable nondefault contract interest rate (currently, at the fair market rate) on the value of the creditor's interest in the real estate.
(Sec. 445) Allows as an administrative expense, for the two-year period following either the later of the rejection date or date of actual turnover of the premises, all monetary obligations due from a nonresidential real property lease previously assumed and subsequently rejected under the requirements governing executory contracts and unexpired leases.
(Sec. 446) Requires a debtor who served as administrator of an employee benefit plan to continue to perform the obligations incumbent upon such service.
(Sec. 447) Confers responsibility upon the bankruptcy trustee to appoint members to a committee of retired employees.
Title V: Municipal Bankruptcy Provisions - (Sec. 501) Makes technical amendments to requirements for a municipal bankruptcy petition.
Title VI: Bankruptcy Data - (Sec. 601) Amends the Federal judicial code to require the clerk of each district, or a specially certified clerk of the bankruptcy court, to compile bankruptcy statistics for individual debtors with primarily consumer debts seeking relief under chapters 7, 11, and 13. Directs the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (Administrative Office) to make such statistics public and to report them annually to Congress.
(Sec. 602) Instructs the Attorney General to issue rules requiring uniform forms for: (1) final reports by trustees in cases under chapters 7, 12, and 13; and (2) periodic reports by chapter 11 debtors or trustees in possession. Prescribes report contents.
(Sec. 603) Prescribes guidelines for procedures to audit debtors.
(Sec. 604) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the national policy should be that all public record data held in electronic form by bankruptcy clerks should be released in electronic form in bulk to the public subject to appropriate privacy concerns and safeguards as Congress and the Judicial Conference of the United States may determine; and (2) a bankruptcy data system should be established that employs a single set of data definitions to collect data nationwide, and that aggregates in the same electronic record all data for any particular bankruptcy case.
Title VII: Bankruptcy Tax Provisions - (Sec. 701) Amends the bankruptcy code to modify the treatment of certain tax liens.
(Sec. 702) Provides that a claim for debtor's liability for fuel tax which is filed by the base jurisdiction designated under the International Fuel Tax Agreement shall be allowed as a single claim.
(Sec. 703) Requires the clerk of each district to maintain a listing under which a governmental entity responsible for the collection of taxes within such district may designate an address for service of requests and describe where further information for filing such requests may be found.
(Sec. 704) Prescribes the rate of interest to be paid on mandatory interest payments on tax claims.
(Sec. 705) Revises the specifications for income tax claims receiving eighth priority (allowed unsecured claims of governmental units). Provides for tolling of the time periods covering such tax claims for stays of proceedings in a prior bankruptcy case, and the pendency or effect of offers in compromise or installment agreements.
(Sec. 707) Prohibits a Chapter 13 discharge of any debt for fraudulent tax payments.
(Sec. 708) States that confirmation of a bankruptcy plan does not discharge a corporate debtor from any debt for: (1) money or credit obtained by false representation owed to a domestic governmental unit or to a person as the result of an action filed with respect to certain claims against the Federal or a State government; or (2) a tax or customs duty with respect to which the debtor made a fraudulent return or willfully attempted to evade or defeat such tax.
(Sec. 709) Limits the automatic stay of U.S. Tax Court proceedings to prepetition taxes.
(Sec. 710) Sets as a prerequisite for court confirmation of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan that includes tax claims, that the debtor make regular cash installment payments over a period ending not later than five years after the date of entry of the order for relief, and in a manner not less favorable than the most favored nonpriority unsecured claim provided for in the plan.
(Sec. 711) Prohibits the avoidance of statutory tax liens by certain purchasers.
(Sec. 712) Amends the Federal judicial code to require officers and agents conducting any business under court authority to pay all Federal, State, and local taxes when due in the course of the business, unless it is a property tax secured by a lien against estate property which is abandoned by the bankruptcy trustee, or payment of the tax is excused under a specific bankruptcy law. Cites circumstances in which payment of such taxes may be deferred in a case pending under chapter 7 until final distribution is made.
Entitles to administrative expense priority payment certain secured and postpetition unsecured taxes incurred by the bankruptcy estate, including ad valorem property taxes.
Declares that a governmental unit shall not be required to file a request for the payment of administrative expenses relating to a tax liability or tax penalty.
Allows a trustee to recover from property securing a claim for the payment of all ad valorem property taxes relating to such property.
(Sec. 713) Requires as a condition for payment of tardily filed priority tax claims that they be filed either before the trustee commences distribution, or ten days following the mailing to creditors of the summary of the trustee's final report, whichever is earlier (currently, before the trustee commences distribution of the estate).
(Sec. 716) Conditions court confirmation of a chapter 13 bankruptcy plan upon filing by the debtor: (1) of all prepetition tax returns; and (2) before the day on which the first meeting of the creditors is convened, of all tax returns for taxable periods ending in the four-year period that ends on the date of the filing of the petition. Directs the court to dismiss a plan or convert it to chapter 7, whichever is in the best interests of the creditors and the estate, if a chapter 13 debtor fails to comply with such time frame.
Expresses the sense of Congress that the Judicial Conference of the United States should propose for adoption amended Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure pertaining to objections to tax returns and to plan confirmation.
(Sec. 717) Redefines "adequate disclosure," for Chapter 11 postpetition disclosure and solicitation purposes, to include full discussion of the potential material Federal and State tax consequences of the plan to the debtor and to a hypothetical investor that is representative of the holders of claims or interests in the case.
(Sec. 718) Denies an automatic stay (unless specified conditions are met) to the setoff of an income tax refund for a taxable period which ended before the order for relief against an income tax liability for a taxable period which also ended before the order for relief.
(Sec. 719) Revises special provisions related to the treatment of State and local taxes, including the creation of a separate taxable estate when such is done for Federal tax purposes.
(Sec. 720) Permits a taxing authority to petition the court to convert or dismiss a case if the debtor fails to timely file a tax return or obtain an extension, whichever is in the best interests of creditors and the estate.
Title VIII: Ancillary and Other Cross-Border Cases - (Sec. 801) Expands the scope of bankruptcy law to incorporate the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, and to establish a statutory mechanism for: (1) dealing with cases of cross-border insolvency; and (2) cooperation between U.S. courts, trustees, and debtors and their foreign counterparts. Prescribes guidelines for: (1) access of foreign representatives and creditors to Federal and State courts; (2) recognition of a foreign proceeding and relief; (3) cooperation and direct communication with foreign courts and representatives; and (4) concurrent proceedings and the coordination of foreign and domestic proceedings.
Title IX: Financial Contract Provisions - (Sec. 901) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to redefine specified contracts, agreements, and transfers entered into with an insolvent insured depository institution before a conservator or receiver was appointed.
States that no person shall be stayed or prohibited from exercising any right to cause the acceleration of any qualified financial contract with an insured depository institution which arises upon the appointment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver at any time after such appointment.
(Sec. 902) Amends the FDIA and the Federal Credit Union Act to prohibit construction of any provision of law as limiting the right or power of the FDIC, or the National Credit Union Administration Board, respectively, to transfer, disaffirm, or repudiate a qualified financial contract (QFC) of a failed institution, or as authorizing any court or agency, to limit or delay such FDIC action.
Prohibits enforcement of a walkaway clause in the QFC of an insured depository institution in default (a clause that either does not create a payment obligation of a party, or extinguishes it solely because of such party's status as a nondefaulting party).
(Sec. 903) Revises guidelines governing transfers of qualified financial contracts of an insolvent institution to include: (1) transfers to a foreign bank or foreign financial institution (including its branch or agency); and (2) transfers of contracts subject to the rules of a clearing organization. Defines financial institution to include a broker or dealer, a depository institution, a futures commission merchant, or any other institution as determined by FDIC regulation.
Suspends certain termination rights of counterparties to a qualified financial contract with an insolvent insured depository institution until after the receiver's appointment, or after receipt of notice that the contract has been transferred.
Declares that none of the following institutions shall be considered a financial institution for which a conservator, receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, or other legal custodian has been appointed or which is otherwise the subject of a bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding: (1) a bridge bank; or (2) an FDIC-organized depository institution for which a conservator is appointed either immediately upon organization, or at the time of a purchase and assumption transaction between such institution and the FDIC as receiver for a depository institution in default (thereby permitting the FDIC to transfer QFCs to such entities).
(Sec. 904) Prescribes guidelines for: (1) the disaffirmance or repudiation of qualified financial contracts by the conservator or receiver for a failed depository institution; and (2) the treatment of a master agreement as a single agreement and as a single qualified financial contract (declares such treatment applicable to Federal insured credit unions ).
(Sec. 906) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 to make conforming amendments with respect to: (1) bilateral netting contracts; (2) security agreements; (3) clearing organization netting contracts; (4) contracts with uninsured national banks; and (5) contracts with uninsured Federal branches or agencies.
(Sec. 907) Amends the Federal Bankruptcy Code to reflect the changes made by this Act and to: (1) deny an automatic stay to set-offs under certain swap agreements and netting agreements; and (2) restrict the avoidance power of the bankruptcy trustee regarding certain master netting agreement transfers to those transfers that are fraudulent in nature. Defines financial participants.
Sets forth statutory guidelines for: (1) the termination or acceleration of designated contracts and agreements; and (2) commodity broker and stockbroker liquidation with respect to the priority of unsecured claims, or customer property or distributions.
(Sec. 908) Amends the FDIA to authorize the FDIC to prescribe more detailed recordkeeping requirements for QFCs including market valuations, only if an insured depository institution in troubled condition.
(Sec. 909) Exempts specified collateralization agreements from the contemporaneous execution requirement that deems invalid certain agreements against FDIC interests in certain asset acquisitions.
(Sec. 910) Amends Federal bankruptcy law to specify the timing for the measure of damages in connection with: (1) rejection by the bankruptcy trustee of designated contracts and agreements relating to executory contracts and unexpired leases; or (2) the liquidation, acceleration, or termination of such contracts and agreements.
(Sec. 911) Amends the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 to provide that neither the filing of a protective decree by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, nor any court protective order, shall operate as a stay of a creditor's contractual rights to liquidate, terminate, or accelerate designated contracts and agreements. Allows such application, order, or decree, however, to operate as a stay of foreclosure on securities collateral pledged, sold, or lent by the debtor.
Title X: Protection of Family Farmers and Family Fishermen - (Sec. 1001) Amends the Federal bankruptcy code to reenact Chapter 12, Adjustment of Debts of a Family Farmer with Regular Annual Income, as amended by this Act (thereby reinstating permanently family farmer bankruptcy relief).
(Sec. 1002) Provides for triennial adjustments of the debt limit for family farmers.
(Sec. 1003) Cites circumstances under which the claim of a governmental unit that arises from the disposition of a farm asset used in the debtor's farming operation shall be treated as an unsecured claim not entitled to priority.
(Sec. 1004) Increases from $1.5 million to $3.237 million the maximum aggregate debt that qualifies an individual, or individual and spouse engaged in a farming operation as family farmers for debt adjustment purposes. Reduces from 80 percent to 50 percent the minimum percentage of aggregate, noncontingent, liquidated debts arising out of such a farming operation.
(Sec. 1005) Repeals the requirement that the family farmer and spouse receive over 50 percent of income from farming operations in the year before a bankruptcy petition is filed. Allows such income requirement to be met during either the taxable year preceding the year in which the bankruptcy petition is filed, or the taxable year in the second and third taxable years preceding the bankruptcy petition.
(Sec. 1006) Allows the court to confirm a family farmer bankruptcy plan, notwithstanding the objection of the trustee or holder of an allowed unsecured claim, if the value of the property to be distributed under the plan in a specified period is not less than the debtor's projected disposable income for such period.
Prohibits any post-confirmation modification of a bankruptcy plan that would increase the amount of payments that were due before such modification. Provides that, unless the debtor proposes the modification, a modified plan may not: (1) require payments to unsecured creditors in any particular month greater than the debtor's disposable income for that month based on an increase in the debtor's disposable income; or (2) if the modification takes place in the plan's last year, require any payments that would leave the debtor with insufficient funds after plan completion to carry on the farming operation.
(Sec. 1007) Extends Chapter 12 coverage to family fishermen.
Title XI: Health Care and Employee Benefits - (Sec. 1102) Prescribes guidelines for disposal of the patient records of a health care business (not including a health maintenance organization) that commences a proceeding for debtor relief and the trustee does not have sufficient funds to pay for the storage of patient records as required by law.
(Sec. 1103) Allows as an administrative expense claim the costs of closing a health care business, including disposal of patient records and transfer of patients.
(Sec. 1104) Requires the bankruptcy court to appoint an ombudsman to represent the interests of the patients of a health care business within 30 days after commencement of a case under chapters 7 (Liquidation), 9 (Adjustment of Debts of a Municipality), or 11 (Reorganization), unless the court finds that this is not necessary for the protection of patients under the specific facts of the case.
(Sec. 1105) Requires the bankruptcy trustee to use all reasonable and best efforts to transfer patients from the health care business in the process of being closed to an appropriate substitute.
(Sec. 1106) Denies an automatic stay to a debtor's exclusion by the Secretary of Health and Human Services from participation in the Medicare program or any other Federal health care program (thus precluding the debtor's continuation or reinstatement in such a program).
Title XII: Technical Amendments - (Sec. 1201) Makes technical corrections to Federal bankruptcy, judicial, and criminal law.
Redefines single asset real estate to exclude family farms and to repeal the $4 million ceiling on the amount of noncontingent, liquidated secured debts on such property. Defines the term "transfer" to include: (1) creation of a lien; (2) retention of title as a security interest; (3) foreclosure of the debtor's equity of redemption; and (4) every mode of disposing of property or parting with an interest in property.
(Sec. 1202) Requires triennial adjustment of the $5,000 value of certain implements, professional books, tools of the trade, farm animals, and crops which a debtor may exempt from the property of the estate (protecting them from creditors' liens).
(Sec. 1206) Provides that a trustee or a creditors' and equity security holders' committee may pay a professional person they employ on a fixed or percentage fee basis, as well as on other bases already permitted.
(Sec. 1208) Excludes from compensable professional services any expenses incurred for an attorney or an accountant by an individual member of a creditors' and equity security holders' committee.
(Sec. 1209) Declares nondischargeable in bankruptcy a debt for death or personal injury caused by the debtor's operation of a vessel or aircraft while intoxicated from alcohol, a drug, or other substance.
(Sec. 1213) Revises guidelines governing preferences to provide that, if the trustee avoids a security interest given between 90 days and one year before the date of the filing of the petition, by the debtor to a non-insider for the benefit of a creditor that is an insider, then such security interest shall be considered to be avoided only with respect to the insider creditor.
(Sec. 1221) Permits the bankruptcy trustee to sell, use, or lease property in accordance with nonbankruptcy law governing the transfer of property by nonprofit charitable corporations, if doing so is not inconsistent with certain relief granted under the automatic stay.
(Sec. 1222) Extends from 20 to 30 days the length of time after a debtor receives possession of property for perfection of a security interest in such property created by a transfer which the trustee may not avoid.
(Sec. 1223) Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2005 - Amends the Federal judicial code to require appointments for additional temporary bankruptcy judgeships in California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, and Nevada.
Provides that the first vacancy occurring in such district five years or more after a judge is appointed under this Act shall not be filled. Applies such prohibition specifically to certain vacancies in the Central District of California, the Southern District of Florida, and the districts of Delaware and Maryland.
Extends temporary bankruptcy judgeship positions authorized for the northern district of Alabama, and the districts of Delaware and Puerto Rico, and the eastern district of Tennessee.
(Sec. 1224) Prescribes compensation guidelines for the services and expenses of a trustee who has petitioned the court to convert or dismiss a chapter 7 case.
(Sec. 1225) Denies an automatic stay with respect to creation or perfection of a statutory lien for a special tax or special assessment on real property whether or not ad valorem, if the tax or assessment comes due after the filing of a petition for debtor relief.
(Sec. 1226) Requires the Director of the Federal Judicial Center to develop materials and conduct training useful to courts in implementing this Act.
(Sec. 1227) Cites conditions under which the rights of the trustee are subject to the right of the seller to reclaim goods received by the insolvent debtor within 45 days before commencement of the case. Sets a time-frame for seller's written demand for reclamation.
(Sec. 1228) Prohibits a court from granting a discharge in a chapter 7 case, or from confirming a reorganization plan in a chapter 11 or 13 case, unless requested tax documents have been provided to the court.
(Sec. 1229) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) consumer credit may sometimes be offered indiscriminately without lender action to ensure consumer repayment capacity, and in a manner which may encourage additional debt accumulation; and (2) resulting consumer debt may increasingly be a major contributing factor to consumer insolvency.
Instructs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to study indiscriminate solicitation and extension of credit by the credit industry. Authorizes the Board to: (1) promulgate regulations requiring additional disclosures to consumers; and (2) take measures to ensure responsible industrywide practices and to prevent resulting consumer debt and insolvency.
(Sec. 1230) Excludes from property of the estate in bankruptcy certain tangible personal property (other than securities or written or printed evidences of indebtedness or title) pledged or sold by the debtor as collateral for a loan or money advance, where: (1) the pledgee or transferee possesses such property; (2) the debtor has no obligation to repay or redeem; and (3) neither the debtor nor the trustee has exercised any right to redeem in a timely manner.
(Sec. 1231) Amends the Federal judicial code to authorize private trustees and standing trustees, after exhausting administrative remedies, to obtain judicial review in a U.S. district court of: (1) any suspension or termination; or (2) denial of a claim of actual, necessary expenses.
(Sec. 1233) Prescribes procedural guidelines for a court of appeals to exercise appellate jurisdiction over a bankruptcy order or decree following the submission of specified certifications.
(Sec. 1235) Declares debts incurred to pay fines or penalties imposed under Federal election law nondischargeable in bankruptcy.
Title XIII: Consumer Credit Disclosure - (Sec. 1301) Amends the Truth in Lending Act to require: (1) specified minimum payment warnings applicable to an open end credit plan upon which finance charges are accruing; and (2) disclosure of a toll-free number to call for an estimate of the time required to repay the balance making only minimum payments. Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish a toll-free number for the same purpose in the case of a creditor with respect to which the FTC is enforcing compliance with such Act. Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) to promulgate implementing regulations.
Authorizes the Board to study and report to Congress on the types of information available to potential borrowers from consumer credit lending institutions regarding factors qualifying such borrowers for credit, repayment requirements, and the consequences of default.
(Sec. 1302) Mandates additional disclosures for credit extensions secured by a dwelling that exceed such dwelling's fair market value, including a statement that the interest on the excess portion of such extension is not tax deductible for Federal income tax purposes.
(Sec. 1303) Requires specified additional disclosures for: (1) introductory rates and temporary annual percentage rates of interest; (2) Internet-based credit card solicitations; and (3) late payment deadlines and penalties.
(Sec. 1306) Prohibits a creditor from terminating an open end consumer credit account before its expiration date solely because finance charges have not been incurred on such account.
(Sec. 1307) Authorizes the Board to study and report to Congress on certain consumer protections limiting consumer liability for unauthorized use of a debit card or similar access device.
(Sec. 1308) Instructs the Board to study and report to Congress on the impact that credit extensions to dependent students enrolled in postsecondary educational institutions have upon the rate of Federal bankrup