Presidential Hopefuls Take Differing Views on Bankruptcy Reform
Presidential Hopefuls Take Differing Views on Bankruptcy Reform
In a roll call vote on March 15, 2001, Sens. John Edwards (N.C.), Bob Graham (Fla.) and Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) all voted for the bill, which passed by 83-15. Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) voted against the bill. Two Congresses earlier, however, Kerry voted for a similar bankruptcy reform bill (H.R. 3150) in a roll call vote on Sept. 23, 1998. Then-Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (Ill.) also voted for that bill, which passed 97-1. (The late Sen. Paul Wellstone [Minn.] cast the lone dissenting vote.) On the critical issue of capping the federal homestead exemption, Sens. Edwards, Kerry and Lieberman all voted against a motion to table (kill) an amendment last Congress by Sen. Herb Kohl (Wis.) providing for a hard cap to supercede state law. But Sen. Graham, from a state with an unlimited homestead exemption, voted to table the amendment. Graham was in the minority as the tabling motion failed 39-60.