[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10950-H10951]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TEMPORARY REENACTMENT OF CHAPTER 12, TITLE 11, UNITED STATES CODE
Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 4831) to temporarily reenact chapter 12 of title 11 of the United
States Code, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 4831
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. TEMPORARY REENACTMENT OF BANKRUPTCY PROVISIONS
RELATING TO FAMILY FARMERS.
(a) Reenactment.--Chapter 12 of title 11 of the United
States Code, as in effect on September 30, 1998, is hereby
reenacted for the period beginning on October 1, 1998, and
ending on April 1, 1999.
(b) Continuation of Cases.--All cases commenced or pending
under chapter 12 of title 11, United States Code, as
reenacted under subsection (a), and all matters and
proceedings in or relating to such cases, shall be conducted
and determined under such chapter as if such chapter were
continued in effect after April 1, 1999. The substantive
rights of parties in connection with such cases, matters, and
proceedings shall continue to be governed under the laws
applicable to such cases, matters, and proceedings as if such
chapter were continued in effect after April 1, 1999.
SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect on October 1, 1998.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) and the gentleman from Ohio
(Mr. Traficant), each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas).
General Leave
Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the bill
under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Throughout a full year now, as the Speaker knows, we have been
considering bankruptcy reform. And as it turned out, the House, in a
bipartisan vote, overwhelmingly approved bankruptcy reform twice, both
in the original bill and in the conference report.
The Senate, on its side, approved on a great bipartisan vote with
only one dissenting vote, I think 97 or 98 to 1, a similar bankruptcy
reform bill. The conference was never able to have the bill passed in
both chambers. It succeeded only in the House. So it sort of fell by
its own weight over in the Senate.
{time} 1300
But an important feature of the bankruptcy reform legislation, right
from the start, was an extension of chapter 12. What does that mean?
Chapter 12 is devoted specifically and uniquely to the farmers of our
Nation who experience unique types of financial crises almost on a
monthly basis.
We, through chapter 12 in the current code, accord our farmers a
special set of rights and abilities to cope with their financial
situation. So we had hoped that, with the total bankruptcy reform bill
it seemed on a way to a successful conclusion, to also extend the
benefits of chapter 12 which we did have in the bill.
But if the bill fell, then chapter 12 had to fall with it. That meant
that, on October 1 of this year, the authorization previously in effect
for chapter 12 ended.
So what we are about here is an extension of that chapter 12 set of
benefits. A leader in this movement, I must tell my colleagues, from
the first day that we began contemplating bankruptcy reform was the
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith), who doggedly pursued for his
purpose, for his great cause, the farmers' financial situation, the
extension of chapter 12.
I had assured him on many occasions that we are going to make sure
that it is going to be part of the bankruptcy reform bill, but I really
did not expect that it would crash down as it did in the last minutes
of this session.
But that sets the stage, then, for the passage of this legislation,
which everyone should agree has to occur, else the October 1 end of
chapter 12 authority for special treatment of farmers will also crash
down. So we are eager to extend the benefits of chapter 12, the sole
purpose of this piece of legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to join in support of this legislation. Mr.
Conyers is not here today. He is very busy. He supports extending these
protections in bankruptcy, chapter 12 protections for the farmers.
There is a concern that we have, but it is not enough of a concern
for us to oppose this legislation. Our concern is that this is but a 6-
month extension, and we would have liked to have seen a little more of
an extension and perhaps maybe even a permanent correction.
[[Page H10951]]
But not being of the committee, and representing the committee on
this suspension, I would like to say this: Many Members on this side of
the aisle respect the efforts of the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Gekas), and we know that the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas)
has taken what he could in the process with the other body.
What he has brought to the floor is good enough for us. We would like
to see it better. We are hoping and appealing to the chairman that, in
the next opportunity, that that broader extension and perhaps a
permanent delineation could be effected.
Having said that, I would also like to say that I have passed laws on
home mortgages and now veterans' VA loans to provide for, upon one-
month, 4-day delinquency, a notice of counseling programs available
with a 1-800 number where the delinquent owner and mortgage holder can
call for assistance. They have had great success in working this out.
I want to also let the Congress know that I am going to attempt to
have that type of language inserted for specific small farm and farm
activities to make sure and ensure that, when they get in trouble, they
will know what the service is.
What the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) is doing today, we
support. We would appreciate his consideration in the future.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GEKAS. I yield myself such time as I might consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to launch a filibuster now to give ample
opportunity to our colleague the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith) to
appear if he is on his way so that he may give his personal witness to
this legislation.
So I will recite the Gettysburg Address and a few other staples from
American history, but I am being urged by staff to bring us to a quick
close.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman
from Michigan (Mr. Smith).
Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding
to me.
Mr. Speaker, there is no question that farmers and agriculture are
currently in a very serious plight, and there is no question that much-
needed work has been done on bankruptcy reform in the 105th Congress.
Our bankruptcy laws are too lenient and have become a source of debt
evasion rather than a means of equitably resolving differences between
debtors and creditors.
While we have been hammering out an agreement, one important issue
got lost in the shuffle. Bankruptcy relief for farmers has been allowed
to expire during the period of severe hardship for American farmers.
American farmers are going to be losing this year between 10 and 20
percent of their income, over $8 billion, as a drop in farm income.
Some farmers have been and are going to be forced into bankruptcy.
There has been a problem of weather, of disease, of low commodity
prices, of a loss of Asian markets. What we need to do is we need
immediate action to ensure that the chapter 12 reorganization is
restored to American producers as soon as possible. Both the chairman
and the ranking member also have felt that this is important.
Chapter 12 expired on September 30 of this year. Enacted during the
1986 farm crisis, chapter 12 made significant bankruptcy relief
available to a group of Americans that has difficulty in getting credit
and managing their assets since the country's founding, and of course
that is the American farmers.
Specifically, it opened many of the advantages of chapter 13 filings
to farmers who were, for the most part, too indebted to take advantage
of chapter 13 and had to use other less advantageous provisions of the
bankruptcy code.
For example, chapter 7 was accessible to farmers to give them some of
the, if you will, fresh start promise to debtors under the bankruptcy
code. But under chapter 7, the farm which might have been in the family
for generations was usually lost. Congress needed to find a way to
ensure that creditors are protected while at the same time being able
to maintain that family farm.
I understand that chapter 12 may need some changes. Both the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Gekas) and Senator Grassley, the
father of chapter 12, have proposed changing chapter 12 in various
ways. It may well be that chapter 12 should be changed, but this needed
provision to extend it from the current sunset of last October 1 needs
not to lapse.
Currently, we are in the midst of another crisis in the saga of the
American farmer. The weather, the disease, the devastated crops, export
markets shrinking, commodity prices at historic lows, changes to
chapter 12 can and must be maintained.
It is unacceptable to allow the desire for reform to prevent the
renewal of this program in this time of need for the American
agriculture.
My bill, H.R. 4831, would extend the chapter 12 provisions so that we
can debate needed changes in a period of less urgence for farmers. This
legislation that makes the farmer provisions of chapter 12 retroactive
to last October 1st is supported by the Senate and the administration.
I hope all my colleagues will join me today in passing this
legislation.
Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, we thank the gentleman for his heroic efforts
in bringing this to a successful conclusion.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ballenger). The question is on the
motion offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) that the
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4831, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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