Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise in support of legislation developed by our colleague, Senator Brown, and me to protect $1,400 relief payments from being garnished by predatory private debt collectors.

We know that millions of American families are hanging on by a thread. They are counting on these payments to make rent and pay for groceries and medicines.

Now Senator Brown and I want to include these protections in the American Rescue Plan. We wanted to include them, just like we had done in the December relief bill, but the problem was that Senate rules didn't allow Senator Brown and me to include these protections in the American Rescue Plan, just like we had done earlier.

If the Senate doesn't pass this bill, predatory debt collectors will continue to seize relief payments for everything from credit cards to medical debt.

And as we talk about this right now, I would like to give an example of what this really means. If you have two parents who have lost their jobs, through no fault of their own, and they can't pay the rent because their relief check has been seized to cover a child's outstanding hospital bills--that is what is going to happen if you don't pass the legislation Senator Brown and I are advocating.

So I think this one is cut and dry. The Senate will either stand today for the working families who desperately need this help, like that couple who are hurting, through no fault of their own, or the Senate is with private debt collectors reaching their hands into those families' pockets.

Now, these protections that we are talking about were included in the December package, with Republicans fully supporting it. Families' financial situations haven't changed so I hope that Republicans will allow for the passage of this measure offered by Senator Brown and me. It is just common sense.

And I am going to yield now--the minority is aware--to Senator Brown. He, too, will have short remarks, and then we will engage with our colleague on the other side.

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 823 introduced earlier today. The bill would provide for protection of recovery rebates. I further ask that the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, just briefly. I think the key kind of question--and the checks are still going out, and we want them to get out as quickly as possible, but the key issue here is the Republicans, back in December, wanted to help that couple that I was talking about, the person laid off, through no fault of their own. They wanted to help those folks to make sure their relief check wouldn't be seized to cover a child's outstanding hospital bills.

So what we heard are discussions about all kinds of, you know, other issues, but the fact is, in December, just a few weeks ago--just a few weeks ago--Republicans were supportive of the families Senator Brown and I are seeking to help today. That is what the question is all about. Will the Senate today help the folks who are hurting that Senator Brown and I have been talking about?

In December, Republicans said: You bet we are going to be there. Now it is a question, really, of whom the Senate is for. Senator Brown and I are for those folks who are hurting, and they have been laid off through no fault of their own, and Republicans, unfortunately, with checks still going out--still going out--have decided they are for the private debt collectors.

I think it really shows whose side you are on, and Senator Brown and I and members of our caucus are on the side of the people who are hurting, through no fault of their own, and we especially care about them at this time when checks are still going out.

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