FACT BRIEF

Did Joe Biden support a bankruptcy reform bill that made it harder for Americans to secure debt relief?

Sunday, October 25, 2020

By Austin Tannenbaum

Copy link

Copy featured image

YES

As a Senator from Delaware, Joe Biden advocated and voted for the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. The law requires certain individuals to take a means test to determine if they are eligible for debt relief.

The law increased the amount of paperwork and money required to file for bankruptcy and mandated that individuals complete a credit-counseling course within 180 days of their filing date. Following the law's passage, filings have dropped while insolvency and foreclosures have risen. The N.Y. Federal Reserve Bank concluded in 2015 that the reform "may have removed an important form of relief from financial distress" for lower-income consumers. Rivals in the 2020 primary campaign were highly critical of Biden's record of support for the bill.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Govtrack: Senate vote on 2005 bankruptcy reform

FindLaw: Key changes in 2005 bankruptcy reform

Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Insolvency after the 2005 bankruptcy reform

National Public Radio: Democratic debates could reignite Warren-Biden bankruptcy fight

The American Prospect: The Americans Joe Biden left behind on the bankruptcy bill

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF BY

Latest fact briefs

About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.