I know that you are a very busy man. With a war in Iraq to fight, Supreme Court vacancies and a national disaster, I know that you must be overwhelmed with the responsibilities of your office.
Allow me to take just a moment of your time and make a special appeal to you:
Repeal the new bankruptcy bill.
I know the bill was passed in April due to the perception that some are taking advantage of current bankruptcy laws. I understand the desire to make people pay what they owe. And capable people should pay their debts.
However, in the light of Hurricane Katrina, the devastation upon the American economy, and more importantly the people of this nation, will make this bill an unnecessary burden. It will cripple people already crippled by Katrina’s desolation.
Some have suggested delaying the bill or providing a loophole for those survivors of Katrina. I urge you to go further and seek to repeal the entire bill. The ramifications of this disaster is, as yet, not fully known. The economic fall-out will be one that may take years to properly assess. The implications on unemployment, interest rates and other economic indicators is too murky to fail to offer adequate relief to all who may bear the brunt of this catastrophe.
Not only would such a move be shrewd politically but it would be healing, compassionate and biblical.
Release from debt, the resistance of an overwhelming socio-economic gap, and ending the cyclization of poverty were principles that God wove into the fabric of the nation of Israel. That love for the poor and compassion for the down-trodden culminated in the glorious year of Jubilee: slaves set free, debts forgiven.
In the aftermath of Katrina the heart for people must supercede the relationship to this nations creditors. The people must come before banks.
August 29th was a black day in American history.
October 17th, the day the new bankruptcy bill is scheduled to go into effect, does not need to be another black day.
Our nation can’t stand another setback of this magnitude.
Please Mr. President, repeal the bankruptcy bill.

Respectfully,
L. Scott Freeman