The commercial banking and finance/credit industries that benefit from the law because it makes it easier for them to collect on debt when people declare bankruptcy invested heavily in Congress. In fact, commercial banks and finance/credit card companies, their employees and families, and connected Political Action Committees (PACs) have donated more than $224 million dollars to Congress since 1989. About 62 percent of the $224 million flowed to Republicans and 38 percent went to Democrats.[i]

 
Contribution totals from the commercial banking and finance/credit industries rose from roughly $22 million in the 1998 election cycle, peaked at nearly $40 million in the 2004 elections just prior to the bankruptcy bill’s passage, and dropped off to roughly $32 million the following cycle.