Another one bites the dust! From cardforum.com Congress finished most of its lame-duck session and left town Saturday, leaving a bankruptcy-reform bill to die on the vine once again, the Credit Union Journal Daily reports. Lawmakers may return for a brief attempt to vote on recommendations by the 9/11 Commission, but only if an agreement can be reached on their key recommendations, according to John McKechnie, Chief Lobbyist for the Madison, Wisconsin-based trade group Credit Union National Association. "It doesn't look as if they're going to get to our stuff," McKechnie, referring to the bankruptcy measure, told CUJ Sunday. The bill, long sought by credit card issuers and other lenders, would make it tougher to dischrage unsecured debt, thus steering more consumers into reorganization. The proposal has been lingering since the House and Senate passed it last year because both chambers have yet to agree on a single version to send to President Bush. This would be the fourth straight Congress in which a bankruptcy bill died before the end of the session. _________________ FREE CREDIT REPORTS START DECEMBER 1 Beginning December 1, 2004 free annual credit reports will be made available upon request by a consumer as required by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 ("FACT"). Reports will be available across the country in four stages: Dec. 1, Alaska, Hawaii, and other Western states March 1, Midwestern states June 1, Southern states Sept 1, New England and other Eastern states Consumers will be able to request their reports from all 3 major credit reporting agencies at a special web site, AnnualCreditReport.com; the credit report will appear on the screen and may be printed out, consumer may call 1-877-322-8228, or they may write to: Annual Credit Report Request Service P.O. Box 105281 Atlanta, Georgia 30348-5281 ______________________ FEDERAL DEBT SKYROCKETS (spin alert!) Kevin Collins, DailyPennsylvanian.com On Nov. 19 Congress raised the debt ceiling by $800 billion, meaning the government can now go $8.18 trillion in debt. Congress had already breached its previous limit and was taking money out of pension accounts to keep functioning. At President Bush's first inauguration, the national debt was about $5.6 trillion. Since then the debt has increased by about 30%. In the fiscal year that ended in September, the government paid $321 billion in interest. A recent Washington Post editorial estimated that at the current pace interest costs will account for almost 10% of federal spending in the next decade.