Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights

Shannon Buggs writes in today’s Chronicle that President Obama hopes to sign this bill by Memorial Day. I’ve written about this before. New York Democrat Christine Maloney has worked for two years to pass a bill ending the most egregious practices of the credit card industry.

Her bill, HR 627 passed the House on April 30th. It didn’t survive completely intact, of course: the banks still own the US Congress, but this measure earned bipartisan support, passing 357 to 70 with 84 Republican votes behind it. As usual, the Texas Republican delegation weighed in heavily on the wrong side with only five (Barton, Carter, Culberson, Hall, & McCaul) out of twenty voting for the bill.

My congressman, Pete Olson, voted against, but that’s to be expected from a protégée of Phil Gramm, the Senator turned investment banker who is as responsible as anybody for crashing the US economy last year. Remember this when Captain Pete asks for your vote next year.