Big Money & Politics: Who Gets Hurt?: Soaked By Congress

Lavished with campaign cash, lawmakers are reforming bankruptcy--punishing the downtrodden to catch a few cheats

Congress is about to make life a lot tougher--and more expensive--for people like the Trapp family of Plantation, Fla. As if their life isn't hard enough already. Eight-year-old Annelise, the oldest of the three Trapp children, is a bright, spunky, dark-haired wisp who suffers from a degenerative muscular condition. She lives in a wheelchair or bed, is tied to a respirator at least eight hours a day, eats mostly through a tube and requires round-the-clock nursing care. Doctors have implanted steel rods in her back to stem the curvature of her spine.

Her parents, Charles and Lisa, are staring at a...

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