Last night, Stephen Colbert devoted his "The Word" segment to Rep. Luis Gutierrez's Payday Loan Reform Act of 2009, which we've repeatedly covered. Watch it:
Oof. Colbert's criticism strikes at one of the more frustrating aspects of Gutierrez's support for this bill. The Chicago Democrat cites the industry's clout as the reason why he can't pass an outright ban on these destructive financial products. Yet he seems to ignore that clout is a two-way street -- it only works if the politicians accept the contributions from special interests and allow them to influence their policymaking.
If Gutierrez really believes that payday loans should be banned (as he himself said in the committee hearing on this bill), then he should lead by example. Maybe then other legislators would be emboldened to stand up and, gradually, the industry's influence might wane.
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