[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 115 (Thursday, September 3, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9926-S9927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE BANKRUPTCY REFORM BILL

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am extremely disappointed in my good 
friend and colleague from Massachusetts, who has chosen to object to 
even proceeding to the bankruptcy reform legislation. The fact is that 
this Grassley-Durbin legislation has broad bipartisan support. This 
particular bill passed the Judiciary Committee with a 16-2 vote.
  This piece of consensus legislation reflects the tireless efforts of 
both

[[Page S9927]]

Democrat and Republican Senators on the Judiciary Committee.
  Mr. President, at subcommittee markup, no less than eight amendments 
were offered, all of which were adopted. Furthermore, at the full 
committee markup, 13 amendments were offered and eight of them were 
adopted. So there has been a real bipartisan effort to resolve the 
problems.
  A number of changes requested by my colleagues on the minority side 
were included in a comprehensive substitute amendment that was adopted 
at the markup.
  All during this process, I have been open to other changes. In fact, 
I worked with Senator Dodd to address his concerns that the legislation 
may have an adverse impact on the ability of ex-spouses and children to 
collect support payments. Along with Senators Grassley and Kyl, I 
introduced a comprehensive amendment that creates new legal protections 
for ex-spouses and children who are owed child support and all money 
payments.
  This amendment not only ensures that S. 1301 will have no adverse 
effect on child support and alimony payments, but also creates 
significant new legal protections that strengthen the ability of ex-
spouses and children to collect the payments that they are owed. So we 
have made every effort to accommodate everybody here.
  Further, I want to respond to the suggestion that this legislation 
does not help real working families. Mr. President, this bill does 
exactly that. It is an important bill that will help millions of 
American families. In fact, abuses of the current bankruptcy system 
impose a $400 tax per family.
  Let me be clear. This is not $400 per family that declares 
bankruptcy; this is a tax on every American family. This legislation is 
designed to remedy that.
  Again, I am extremely disappointed that we have not been allowed to 
proceed with this important bill, and I hope we can invoke cloture on 
this.

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