Rep. Hansen Clarke Cuts Up Credit Cards: 'Free Yourselves!' (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON -- While Congress is fixated on America's national debt, Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-Mich.) on Tuesday tried to turn its attention toward credit card debt, a liability he argued has been hampering the country's economic recovery. To make his point, he cut up several credit cards on the House floor to urge Americans to free themselves from plastic.

"We will not easily get out of this recession as long as Americans are underwater on their mortgages, defaulting on student loans, maxing out on their credit cards," Hansen said on Tuesday.

"If we want to create jobs -- jobs that will truly be sustainable and help provide families with real financial security, this Congress must realize that when the American people are so in debt, so is this country."

Hansen's fever pitch came toward the end of his floor time, when the congressman reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a pair of scissors and proceeded to cut up five credit cards.

"You want this government to get out of debt? Then you get out of debt personally," said Hansen. "Stop the spending! Stop the borrowing! Stop overconsumption -- buying things you don't need with money you don't have, that's robbing you and your family of a future. It's robbing this country out of jobs."

"So I'm going to ask every American right now, get out your credit cards, cut them up, free yourselves -- free yourselves! Don't count on this Congress to help you. This Congress already voted to end Medicare. They're flirting with disaster on this debt right now."

The display was certainly symbolic, but it didn't actually affect the congressman's finances. Hansen spokesperson Kim Bowman said the credit cards had all belonged to other people and had already been canceled. The congressman, in fact, has already sworn off plastic.

"After he won the August primary he decided to be debt free and refuses to use credit -- It is important for him to be in integrity in Congress. No credit. No debt," she said.

WATCH:

The U.S. national debt is currently $14.5 trillion. U.S. consumer credit is at about $2.4 trillion for short- and intermediate-term borrowing, with $796 billion in credit card debt alone, according to the Federal Reserve.

Hansen also announced that he will be putting forth a resolution stating that as Congress negotiates raising the debt limit, it also must "work to make sure that Americans don't default on their debt."

Comments

[SouthOfCincy]

10:54 AM on 07/20/2011

Trying to distract from the GOVERNMENT debt by playing the clown. Credit cards are what an individual makes of them. Used responsibly and paid off every month, they're a little blessing......

[MrBrownstone]

10:35 AM on 07/20/2011

Great Idea.. Now lets cut up the Government's credit card, stop borrowing 40 cents on every dollar we take in, put up a budget we can live on based on what we currently take in ... If they think we need to live within our means then shouldn't the Government do the same????

[exhale09]

10:16 AM on 07/20/2011

I cut up my credit cards and paid them off in 2006. That was the best thing I've done in years to "free myself"! I have been credit card debt free for 5 years and I can't begin to tell you how liberating it feels...it has helped me to survive the 2008 economic collapse.

Rep. Hansen is exactly right.

[Maija Dravnieks]

10:12 AM on 07/20/2011

He is nice to meet and tends to hold an interesting angle to it all. Lead by example. ~ Maija from Detroit

[toolology]

10:08 AM on 07/20/2011

Based only on this article alone this is the first speach by a Democrat that I agree with.

[PreacherThug]

09:01 AM on 07/20/2011

I'm surprised they're allowed scissors on the House floor.
Perhaps he should show them to Rep. West.

[x1cness]

08:48 AM on 07/20/2011

Rep. Hansen Clarke makes a valid point about the dangers of credit card debt that affects millions of Americans, but the idea that credit in general is a bad thing is both misleading and ignorant. Without credit and borrowing, the majority of Americans would not own a home today and hundreds of thousands small and mid-size businesses would not exist as they exist today.

[exhale09]

10:25 AM on 07/20/2011

You don't buy homes on a credit card, and far too many people borrow way beyond their means...whipping out the plastic, "charging" is easy, it's paying it back that's hard and it is making the very Lending Institutions that stuck it to us in 2008 and that don't want to pay their fair share of taxes on their profits, and who are contributing millions..of Credit card holders INTEREST $... to the political candidates who intend to see to it they don't have to pay their fair share in taxes.

[x1cness]

03:09 AM on 07/21/2011

Of course people don't buy homes on a credit card. I stated that people need to use credit such as loans to buy homes.Rep. Hansen Clarke has a negative opinion of credit in general, which is depicted int he article. I covered how credit and loans are important to the growth of a state's economy and the improvement of quality of life. I also stated that Rep. Hansen Clarke made a valid point about the risk of credit card debt. Never did I suggest that credit cards are not dangerous and should be used without caution.

[StPeteDave]

07:47 AM on 07/20/2011

I bet his wife has a 100k credit limit.

[dlnrjm]

03:59 AM on 07/20/2011

I give him credit, he is trying to do the right thing.

[hoagie76]

03:08 AM on 07/20/2011

he speaks the truth. my new fav dem

[James Brewster]

01:59 AM on 07/20/2011

Credit cards are evil. They should be avoided.

[bluejaykira]

01:31 AM on 07/20/2011

This is a smart Democrat who walks his talk!

[UnitedDemHP]

12:58 AM on 07/20/2011

Tea party demands to see the birth certificate of Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-MI)

Why ? he looks 'illegal'

[LiberalAlarge]

12:57 AM on 07/20/2011

all of the sudden nobody has credit cards. Am I reading some sort of hogwash here?

[SheilaKhani]

12:56 AM on 07/20/2011

"...Stop the spending! Stop the borrowing! Stop overconsumption -- buying things you don't need .... It's robbing this country out of jobs." How SOCIALIST of him!!