PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE RULE...

On 2026-05-13, Senator Raphael G. Warnock (D-GA) delivered a floor speech titled "PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY BUREAU " in the Senate.

PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE RULE...

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 81 (Wednesday, May 13, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 13, 2026)] [Senate] [Page S2265] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE RULE RELATING TO ``DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES (REGULATION F); DECEPTIVE AND UNFAIR COLLECTION OF MEDICAL DEBT''--Motion to Proceed Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 393, S.J. Res. 141. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The assistant legislative clerk read as follows: Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 393, S.J. Res. 141, a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to the withdrawal of the rule relating to ``Debt Collection Practices (Regulation F); Deceptive and Unfair Collection of Medical Debt''. The PRESIDING OFFICER. There are 2 minutes of debate on the motion. Mr. WARNOCK. I rise today in support of my resolution to restore the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule restricting medical debt collections. This rule protected Americans from paying for medical services they did not receive or paying debt they already paid off. Medical debt leaves Americans in serious financial jams. It wrecks lives. Folks go to the doctor one day for a bandage or some minor injury and end up leaving with a financial burden the size of a mortgage. It could happen to any one of us. Georgia ranks among the top 10 States with the highest rates of medical debt, to the tune of $855 per Georgian, in large part because of the State's refusal to expand Medicaid. In fact, more than a quarter of rural Georgians have medical collections on their credit report--one in four--and that is 10 percentage points higher than the national average. Americans face more barriers as a result. Their mortgage costs increase. Their access to car loans can be restricted just because they got sick and went into debt for care. That is why I led 30 of my colleagues in a letter to the Trump administration defending the CFPB's work on protecting families from the consequences of medical debt. But the Trump administration's actions will make it easier for debt collectors to aggressively go after sick or struggling Americans and prey on families already saddled with medical debt. That is just cruel and unnecessary. I encourage my colleagues to vote yes on this resolution. I yield the floor. Vote on Motion to Proceed The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to proceed. Mr. WARNOCK. I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll. The result was announced--yeas 50, nays 50, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 122 Leg.] YEAS--50 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Cassidy Collins Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Fetterman Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Hawley Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NAYS--50 Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young The motion was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The Senator from Indiana. ____________________

Referenced legislation: SJRES141, SJRES141