H.R. 4161 SCRA Rights Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, as members of Congress, one of our most sacred responsibilities is to serve those who protect our nation. As far back as the Civil War, Congress has enacted laws to safeguard the rights of our military men and women, so they may devote their full attention to the defense of the United States.

These laws, like the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and the Military Lending Act, provide protection from repossessions, foreclosures, predatory lending, and other civil actions that could occur while a servicemember is on active duty or deployed. Those protections allow the servicemember to remain solely focused on protecting the nation while on active duty or deployed. One of the protections the SCRA provides is to require banks and businesses to obtain a court order before repossessing a servicemembers' car or home. Requiring a court order ensures that any action to take away a servicemembers' property will be reviewed by a judge, where the judge can evaluate whether the servicemembers' military duties will inhibit him or her from responding to the action in a timely manner. Through the court system, the judge can also ensure the servicemember wasn't victim to predatory lending practices, or other actions protected under the SCRA.

Unfortunately, banks and businesses have found a way around those protections. Many mortgages, car loans and other financial agreements now include fine print that requires any dispute over the property to be resolved through a new process that avoids the courts: Forced arbitration. By including that clause in the fine print, banks can still threaten servicemembers' homes, cars and other property by requiring them to enter into a costly arbitration process while they are still in active duty service. This process has resulted in men and women finding out that a bank is taking away their family car, or home, while they are in Iraq or Afghanistan. For example, Army National Guard Sergeant Charles Beard was serving in Tikrit, Iraq when he found out that his family car had been illegally repossessed. His wife was threatened and told she would be imprisoned if she resisted. Sergeant and Mrs. Beard spent four years fighting the case, and ultimately did not get back their car or receive compensation. Sadly, they are not alone. In 2012, the Government Accountability Office found 300 cases of improper foreclosures on servicemen and women while they were still on active duty, along with 15,000 other violations of the SCRA. We must ensure that our brothers and sisters in combat don't have to worry about whether or not their families will not become homeless while they are gone. We must close this loophole.

I am proud to partner with Congressman Jones as the Democratic lead sponsor of H.R. 4161, the SCRA Rights Protection Act of 2015, to do just that. The SCRA Rights Protection Act restores the rights enshrined in the SCRA by not allowing forced arbitration for contracts governed by the SCRA unless the servicemember agrees to that process after a dispute has arisen.

Our military men and women sacrifice so much in the service of our nation. It is our duty to defend their rights here at home.

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