On Wed, 9 Aug 2000, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Nathan, what was it that UE guy said about Lieberman on bankruptcy?
> This Yahoo! summary of his voting record has him voting for that evil
> legislation twice:
Both the UE and UAW rate Lieberman as voting right on the Bankruptcy Bill in 1999, but neither rating includes 2000. Apparently, Lieberman voted for the pro-consumer amendments backed by the unions, but ended up voting for the bill as a whole in the end this year. A fairly typical back-and-forth position for Lieberman.
Here's how UAW describes the amendment he apparently did back: "The UAW also vigorously opposed an anti-worker, anti-consumer bankruptcy bill that would make it more difficult for workers to get relief under our bankruptcy laws when they have financial difficulties due to layoffs or disabilities... Although the Senate did not complete action on this legislation, it did reject various pro-consumer amendments, including a UAW-backed amendment that would have allowed various family-related expenses to be included in determining whether a debtor is entitled to relief under the bankruptcy laws."
Looking over the history of this year's passage, there were a range of amendments passed to attract more Dem votes, including an increase in the minimum wage and an amendment prohibiting people who are convicted of abortion clinic violence from declaring bankruptcy to avoid paying court fines.
Since the bill still has to be combined with the House version in committee (with Clinton threatening to veto it in its present form), this is not the clearest bill to evaluate anyone on. For example, if Lieberman had voted "no", he could be attacked for voting against an increase in the minimum wage.
Since the bill does not look ready to come to a vote this year, if Lieberman goes to the VP, we may never know how he would have voted on final passage.
-- Nathan Newman