mr. speaker , you would not even exempt our brothers and sisters coming back from war , and you want me to believe that this is reasonable legislation ? 
rising debt levels in turn reflect a shift in our economy away from a time when families could afford to save and into a time when their wages are stagnant . 
the costs of their health premiums increased 163 percent since 1988 . 
their tuitions have increased 170 percent . 
their mortgages , their child care . 
this is not a stable economy . 
they are not crooks . 
they are not evil people . 
the american bankruptcy institute says that 96.3 percent of the people filing chapter 7 just do not have the money . 
now we are not saying forget about all of this , but we are saying let us be reasonable . 
who should we help ? 
who should be first on the list of congressional priorities ? 
the families who are in financial straits or the credit card companies who made a record $ 30 billion in profits last year and whose profits have soared almost triple in the last decade ? 
this legislation does nothing to put caps on interest rates or late fees or the overtime limits and other penalties , even those among reasonable people . 
