Capitol Hill Meeting

On January 27, 2010, I spent the day in Washington, D.C. at Capitol Hill lobbying Congress on bankruptcy matters. I was one of 80 lawyers from NACBA, National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, lobbying that day. I met with representatives from Senator Barbara Mikulski's office, Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Congressman John Sarbanes, Congresswoman Donna Edwards and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton offices. Each person I met was very receptive and expressed an interest in the subject.

I had never been to Congress before and it was very impressive. The members of Congress I visited are located in three different buildings all connected by underground passageways. The buildings themselves are very old and have very small elevators. The Senate and House of Representative have offices that lie on opposite sides of the Capitol building. There is an underground subway that takes people between the various Congressional offices that used to be available for the public, but now can be only used by the a private individual if he or she is accompanied by a member of a Congressional staff. Because I was on my own, I walked outside from the House of Representatives offices to the Senate offices. The area around the Capitol is cut off from traffic and only approved vehicles are permitted. As a result, there is little traffic. However, there are many policemen present. Some are walking around and others are guarding the sites with heavy machine guns with their hands on the trigger.

The day before we met our representatives, several members of NACBA gave us lessons on lobbying. We were taught the protocols and given hints on how to present our issues most effectively. Although there is no specific bill pending in Congress regarding bankruptcy, there are matters that may come up that could effect our clients. For example, Congress may consider having a Mortgage Borrowers Bill of Rights. This would involve making the mortgage lenders send their borrowers statements each time they charge a fee to their account. In a Chapter 13 case, I have seen mortgage lenders charge borrowers for late fees on payments that were not late, inspection fees, appraisal fees, legal fees and other charges that could be considered "junk fees" that were not disclosed to the borrower until after they paid off their five-year Chapter 13 plan.

Laura J. Margulies is a principal in the firm of Laura Margulies & Associates, LLC. We represent consumers in bankruptcy and litigation matters in Maryland and the District of Columbia.