Detroit Bankruptcy issue on U.S. House Floor

Congressman Dan Kildee first to bring Detroit bankruptcy issue to U.S. House floor

12:05 PM, July 24, 2013   |  

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By Todd Spangler

Detroit Free Press Washington Staff

• Filed Under

• Local News
• Michigan news
• John Conyers

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• Live blog: Follow along during Detroit's first hearing in bankruptcy court

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WASHINGTON — Nearly a week after Detroit filed for bankruptcy, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee became the first member of the state’s congressional delegation to address it on the floor of the U.S. House.
Kildee, D-Flint Township, spoke on the House floor this morning, saying Detroit may be “the recent poster child for municipal decline and insolvency,” but given the finances of urban centers across the nation it should be “a call to action to have a much bigger conversation.”
■ Video: Dan Kildee’s speech
Specifically, he said, Congress should be looking at how best to fund struggling cities burdened with debt. In the meantime, he said, bankruptcy may help order Detroit’s debts, but it “will not be a soluition for its problems or for any other city” by itself.
Reaction to Detroit’s filing — the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history — has been muted in Washington: The White House said it was monitoring the situation, but did not plan to intervene between creditors and the city; U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, asked the Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing, but no reply has been made public.
Most of the members of Michigan’s congressional delegation have not issued any comments at all on the bankruptcy filing by the state’s largest city.

Contact TODD SPANGLER at 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com

 

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http://www.freep.com/article/20130724/NEWS06/307240086/detroit-bankruptcy-dan-kildee-house-floor-congress

Like I said before in other blog articles it isn't likely that the U.S. Government will step in in regard to  this bankruptcy of Detroit. However, it is important that new strategies be created for dealing with small and large bankruptcies of cities across the U.S. When any city goes bankrupt thousands to millions of lives are both directly or indirectly affected. Often hundreds or more business are forced into bankruptcy when a city goes bankrupt too because they lose all their money owed to them by the city. So, long term strategies must go into effect so millions and millions of lives aren't directly or indirectly harmed or destroyed by future city bankruptcies large or small. And, the other problem is that the larger cities that go bankrupt also could create a chain reaction of smaller cities going bankrupt too which could drive a whole state into bankruptcy or force the state to raise taxes to the point where people would be forced to move out of that state in droves in order to financially survive.

I don't think enough thought has been given to just how potentially serious this issue is.

We talk about Banks "Too Big to Fail". What about cities and states "Too Big to Fail"? It is just as great an issue potentially as the banks when some large cities fail and put hundreds and thousands of people and businesses into bankruptcy each time. And cities failing also could collapse individual banks or even banking systems too. This should be studied in order to create long term workable solutions before we have another real mess like the "Great Recession" again.