GOP lawmaker used soldiers to defend his vote to hurt the poor

Wisconsin state Rep. Dale Kooyenga voted this year to help companies prey on low-income citizens by weakening oversight of the predatory rent-to-own industry.

And the absurd excuse he used to defend this vote?

“Sometimes a man wants a couch, or a female soldier wants a couch,” Kooyenga said, concocting a strange hypothetical situation where a soldier would seek out rent-to-own furniture while stationed somewhere.

Rent-to-own businesses sell products like furniture, electronics, and appliances that are paid for via weekly or monthly payments. But the industry has a notorious reputation for charging consumers high interest rates, using the lure of modern comforts and conveniences to lock low-income people into piles of debt.

One of Kooyenga’s fellow Republicans introduced a bill that would have exempted this predatory industry from oversight under the Wisconsin Consumer Act.

Under the bill, rent-to-own businesses would no longer be required to disclose their annual interest rates. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has found that rent-to-own interest rates can range from 100 to 350 percent.

When the bill was introduced, Democrat Gordon Hintz, the minority leader of the Assembly, slammed it as “an opportunity to profit off of the least fortunate in our society.”

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