StupidiNews Focus

More on Republicans killing Chris Dodd's measure to keep credit card companies from jacking up interest rates ahead of February's new laws taking effect.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who heads the Senate Banking Committee, had authored a bill that would have prevented credit card issuers from hiking interest rates ahead of a new law coming into effect in February that restricts how and when rates can be raised.

Earlier this year, Dodd wrote and passed through the Senate the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act, which requires credit card issuers to give customers advance notice before hiking rates and fees.

That bill comes into force in February. But, as news sources reported earlier this year, credit card companies took advantage of the delay to hike interest rates before the bill became law.

(More after the jump...)

Dodd's latest bill would freeze credit card rates where they are now until the new law comes into effect next year. It would also require credit card companies to review all interest hikes going back to the beginning of 2009 to see if customers were overcharged.

But when Dodd asked for the Senate's unanimous consent to discuss the bill, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MI) "objected on the behalf of several of his GOP colleagues, preventing debate," reports The Hill.

"Knowing that the Credit CARD Act would finally protect consumers from these abuses, the industry has tried to make one last grab for their customers' pocketbooks," Dodd said Wednesday.

As repugnant as that is, why should anyone expect the GOP to give a damn about people?  Credit card companies are simply more important than ordinary citizens, so when your interest rates go up despite the fact that the government has kept them near zero, know that the GOP specifically decided it would be a winning move for them to allow credit card companies to hike your rates this holiday season in the middle of the worst recession in decades.

Digby has more:

Honestly, this should provoke a Democratic outcry of epic proportions because it's good policy and it's good politics. They missed the boat by failing to draw attention to the fact that the Republicans blocked the unemployment insurance extension for over a month but this issue is hitting both the employed and the unemployed, all across the country. It's a perfect example of the "give them and inch and they'll take a mile" attitude of the banking industry and jamming the Republicans for helping them do it would go a long way to getting the public to understand that for all the GOP harping on spending as the cause of the downturn, they are helping their rich buddies shaft average Americans every step of the way when it comes to actual policy.

Agreed.  The GOP doesn't give a good pile of rat crap about you, me, or anyone else other than making sure the banking interests that bought them get paid off.  That's who they serve.
Remember that when your rates go up before February on what few holiday purchases you'll be able to make this year.  Or maybe your rates have already gone up.  Fully half of Americans say that's happened.  The other half of us are about to get something in the mail to that effect very soon.

Happy holidays from your GOP friends!