[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 148 (Tuesday, December 5, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11552-S11554]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BANKRUPTCY REFORM ACT OF 2000--CONFERENCE REPORT--Resumed
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There are now 7 minutes equally divided before
the next vote.
The Senator from Iowa is recognized.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I yield 3 minutes of the 5 minutes on
our side to Senator Biden.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I will be reading from these charts some of
the provisions of current law for women and children. We developed
these child support provisions with Senators Torricelli, Durbin, and
Dodd on the Democrat side. We have worked very hard to accommodate both
sides.
For women and children, we give child support first priority status--
up from seventh in line--meaning they will be paid ahead of the
lawyers.
We make staying current on child support a condition of discharge.
We make debt discharge in bankruptcy conditional upon full payment of
past due child support and alimony.
We make domestic support obligations automatically nondischargeable,
without the costs of litigation.
We prevent bankruptcy from holding up child custody, visitation, and
domestic violence cases.
We help avoid administrative roadblocks to get kids the support they
need.
Those are some of the things we are doing for women and children in
this bankruptcy bill.
There are more improvements over current law for women and children.
We make payment of child support arrears a condition of plan
confirmation.
We provide better notice and more information for easier child
support collection.
We provide help in tracking down deadbeats.
We allow for claims against deadbeat parents' property.
We allow for payment of child support with interest by those with
means.
We facilitate wage withholding to collect child support from deadbeat
parents.
We make great strides against deadbeats.
Pro-consumer provisions:
New disclosures by creditors and more judicial oversight of
reaffirmation agreements, to protect them from being pressured into
onerous agreements;
A debtor's bill of rights, to prevent bankruptcy mills from preying
upon those who are uninformed of their rights;
New consumer protections under the Truth in Lending Act, such as
required disclosures regarding minimum monthly payments and
introductory rates for credit cards.
We provide penalties on creditors who refuse to renegotiate
reasonable payment schedules outside of bankruptcy.
We have penalties on creditors who fail to properly credit plan
payments in bankruptcy.
We have credit counseling programs, to help avoid the cycle of
indebtedness.
We provide protection for educational savings accounts.
We give equal protection for retirement savings in bankruptcy.
This is a very good bankruptcy bill. We have worked hard to bring
both sides together. It is something that is absolutely needed in this
country.
I hope our colleagues will support us today in this motion to
reconsider.
I reserve the remainder of the time in favor of Senator Grassley.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware is recognized.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I understand that I have possibly up to 2
minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 2 minutes.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I will not use all of the time.
We will hear from our friend from Massachusetts and others on this
floor about how this has harmed women and children in support payments.
That is simply, flat out not true. We have improved the position of
women. We have improved the position of children. We have improved the
position of people who do not have much money.
We have included a safe harbor provision, saying that unless you meet
a certain minimum income level, you don't even get considered in this
process.
This is a good bill subject to a lot of exaggeration.
My good friend from New York had a very good provision which I
supported relating to abortion clinics and bombs.
[[Page S11553]]
There can't be any intimidation of any kind.
You cannot declare bankruptcy in this country under present
bankruptcy law if you engage in activities which under the FACE Act are
prohibited.
There is no court in the Nation that has said that. People are trying
to get out of bankruptcy. They are trying to be discharged. But the
courts have not discharged them and will not discharge them.
I would like to see the Schumer amendment become law. But, in fact,
it is not necessary to protect the very people we want to protect and
to hold responsible those who engage in that kind of activity under the
FACE Act.
I hope reason will overcome passion. I hope the truth will overcome
exaggeration. But I have been in this institution 28 years and who
knows?
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota has 5 minutes.
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, being able to file chapter 7 bankruptcy
is a major safety net for middle-class, low-income families.
I have heard my colleagues on the other side speak, but the truth is
that every single civil rights organization, labor organization,
consumer organization, and women's organization opposes this piece of
legislation. It goes too far. It is too harsh. It is significantly
worse from a bill that we once passed that indeed was much better.
I have a letter signed by 116 law professors who have said this bill
is too harsh and should be defeated.
Finally, colleagues, this bill came to the Senate in a State
Department embassy conference report which was gutted. This whole
process is absolutely outrageous, and Senators who care about this
legislative process and this institution should vote against cloture.
I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to my colleague from Massachusetts.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts is recognized.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it is fair in a time such as this to ask
who the beneficiaries of this legislation are going to be and who is
going to lose.
As the Senator from Minnesota pointed out, there is not one single
organization that advocates for children that supports this
legislation. There isn't a single organization that advocates for women
that supports this piece of legislation. There is not one organization
that represents working men and women that supports this legislation.
There is not one group representing consumers that supports this
legislation.
It fails the basic and fundamental test of fairness.
There are over 116 bankruptcy experts from around the country,
representing all different views on this, legislation who have
basically underscored what I have said. This is written in their
letter. They say:
We write yet again to bring the same message:
The problems with the bankruptcy bill have not been
resolved, particularly those provisions that adversely affect
women and children.
Then it continues on page 2.
Granting women and children a first priority for bankruptcy
distribution permits them to stand first in line to collect
nothing.
That is what this is really all about.
I hope that at this period in our election process we are not going
to be out there trying to shortchange hard-working families, the
children and women in our society, and the consumers of this Nation.
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I yield 1 minute to Senator Schumer and
1 minute to Senator Durbin.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, let me make it clear that without the
Schumer amendment this bill does not help women. It would be the
leading dagger in keeping a woman's right to choose.
If women support this, why do 16 of the leading women's groups sign a
letter saying vote against the bill without the Schumer amendment. Why
would we allow those who committed such crimes as posting the Nuremberg
files and virtually urging people to harm doctors to escape under the
cloak of bankruptcy?
We will go back to the days when 80 percent of the clinics are closed
in America and a woman's right to choose is gone.
Whatever you feel about the particulars of the bankruptcy bill--and I
agree with the Senator from Massachusetts about that--whether you are
pro-choice or pro-life, people ought not take the law into their own
hands and then hide behind the cloak of bankruptcy.
Members must vote no on this bill until the Schumer amendment is
added back. It passed 80-20 originally on this floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. This bankruptcy bill has been a mangy stray dog that
won't get off the back porch.
Let me tell you what is wrong with the bill. Does it improve the
position of women and children? Sure, but it also improves the position
of credit card companies, competing with the women and children for
limited funds.
Does it close the homestead loophole? A little bit, but it allows
those who are wealthy to find their way around their legal obligation
in bankrupcy.
I have coauthored, cosponsored, and voted for bankruptcy reform when
it was bipartisan and balanced. This bill is not. This bill was written
by a conference committee dominated by one party. It is being shoved
down our throats. It is time to shove that old dog off the back porch.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will
report the motion to invoke cloture on the conference report to H.R.
2415.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the conference
report to accompany H.R. 2415, a bill to enhance security of
United States missions and personnel overseas, to authorize
appropriations for the Department of State for fiscal year
2000, and for other purposes:
Trent Lott, Chuck Grassley, Jeff Sessions, Richard
Shelby, Fred Thompson, Mike Crapo, Phil Gramm, Jon Kyl,
Jim Bunning, Wayne Allard, Thad Cochran, Craig Thomas,
Connie Mack, Bill Frist, Bob Smith of New Hampshire,
and Frank Murkowski.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate
that debate on the conference report accompanying H.R. 2415 shall be
brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are required under this rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. FITZGERALD (when his name was called). Present
Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy), is
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 67, nays 31, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 296 Leg.]
YEAS--67
Abraham
Allard
Ashcroft
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Breaux
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Chafee, L.
Cleland
Cochran
Collins
Craig
Crapo
Daschle
DeWine
Domenici
Enzi
Frist
Gorton
Graham
Gramm
Grams
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Hatch
Helms
Hutchinson
Hutchison
Inhofe
Jeffords
Johnson
Kerrey
Kyl
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McCain
McConnell
Miller
Murkowski
Nickles
Robb
Roberts
Roth
Santorum
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (NH)
Smith (OR)
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Torricelli
Voinovich
Warner
NAYS--31
Akaka
Baucus
Boxer
Bryan
Conrad
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Edwards
Feingold
Feinstein
Harkin
Hollings
Inouye
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Levin
Lieberman
Mikulski
Moynihan
Murray
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Sarbanes
Schumer
Wellstone
Wyden
ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--1
Fitzgerald
NOT VOTING--1
Leahy
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 67, the nays are
31, and 1 Senator responded present. Three-fifths of the Senators duly
chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed
to.
[[Page S11554]]
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________