Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Waters for her important work on this bill and for helping with my amendment to be included therein.

The amendment that I have is cosponsored by Representatives Ocasio- Cortez and Bonamici. It adds a section to the law that says, if you have got a debt that is beyond the statute of limitations, that debt collection companies can't go after you.

There is a statute of limitations because sometimes over a period of time, the facts become kind of vague in people's minds. So the proof isn't strong, and they want to make sure that this could be an appropriate subject matter for a court case.

Also, sometimes debts are sold and debt collection agencies buy them, and they don't really know the facts, the amounts, and all of that. So if a debt is over the statute, this prohibits the debt collectors from going after someone.

I think I found this about 8 years ago in an AARP magazine, which I read, and they said how awful this was. And I thought it was, too. It took 8 years to get it here because it took a Democratic team to bring it to the floor to look out for debtors.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate all the support we have got from my cosponsors, and I hope we pass the bill.

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