Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Relating to the Withdrawal of the Rule Relating to ``Debt Collection Practices (Regulation F); Deceptive and Unfair

Floor Speech

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Mr. WARNOCK. 393, S.J. Res. 141.

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Mr. WARNOCK. I rise today in support of my resolution to restore the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule restricting medical debt collections. This rule protected Americans from paying for medical services they did not receive or paying debt they already paid off.

Medical debt leaves Americans in serious financial jams. It wrecks lives. Folks go to the doctor one day for a bandage or some minor injury and end up leaving with a financial burden the size of a mortgage. It could happen to any one of us.

Georgia ranks among the top 10 States with the highest rates of medical debt, to the tune of $855 per Georgian, in large part because of the State's refusal to expand Medicaid. In fact, more than a quarter of rural Georgians have medical collections on their credit report--one in four--and that is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.

Americans face more barriers as a result. Their mortgage costs increase. Their access to car loans can be restricted just because they got sick and went into debt for care.

That is why I led 30 of my colleagues in a letter to the Trump administration defending the CFPB's work on protecting families from the consequences of medical debt. But the Trump administration's actions will make it easier for debt collectors to aggressively go after sick or struggling Americans and prey on families already saddled with medical debt. That is just cruel and unnecessary.

I encourage my colleagues to vote yes on this resolution.

Vote on Motion to Proceed
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