During the last week of February I had the opportunity to attend a Governmental Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C. This conference proved to be timely since our elected officials are working furiously to address our country’s economic crisis. The timing was ideal since our elected representative’s expediency has resulted in them not having enough information to fully grasp the long-term impacts of short-term fixes.
One of these short-term fixes is bankruptcy legislation that would result in a bankruptcy judge being able to “cram down” the value of a home in bankruptcy. This post does not provide me the opportunity to discuss the details of the legislation. However, the legislation is well intentioned and seems like a reasonable solution, but it failed to fully consider the long-term impacts of the proposal. As a representative of our members I am charged with protecting the funds that they entrust to us. This legislation would make us reconsider mortgage lending due to the possibility of not being able to collect the full balance we lend to our members.
My point here is to discuss that we do have a voice with our elected officials. I was surprised that during our visits with our Senators and Congressman that they were not aware of how this legislation could eventually hurt consumers instead of help them. With over 150 citizens from Oregon, and over 4,000 from the rest of the country, explaining this to our elected representatives they became aware of the full impact of the decision they were about to make. Armed with this new information they delayed the vote on this important legislation until they could gain a greater understanding of the impact it might have and what alternatives there might be. In my mind, this was a confirmation of the power of a unified voice. Our voice was heard! So, I encourage you to speak up and be heard for you will never know how powerful your voice is until you use it!!
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