[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 112 (Monday, September 9, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H6108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           BANKRUPTCY REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening grievously concerned 
about the direction this House may be going as it considers the 
bankruptcy conference report.
  G.K. Chesterton once said, the reformer is always right about what is 
wrong, and he is generally wrong about what is right. But we in this 
House may have the opportunity to do the work of reformers and the 
obligation to do what is right this week.
  The bankruptcy reform bill has languished in Congress, Mr. Speaker, 
since before many of us were Members, including me. Many Members of 
both houses labored tirelessly to reform the old law. I honor them for 
their outstanding work.
  I especially respect those from this House who worked so diligently 
and faithfully as conferees. They did produce a bill that will 
eliminate many of the abuses in the current system, encourage personal 
responsibility, reduce bogus filings, and will put spouses and children 
in a favored position in collecting obligations owed them by those who 
seek to hide behind our country's bankruptcy laws.
  Mr. Speaker, I heard from my friends from finance and in retailing. 
They tell me that the bankruptcy reform accomplishes many good things. 
I cannot nor do I want to disagree with them. Yet, Mr. Speaker, and I 
say this advisedly, if this House sends this bankruptcy conference 
report to the President, without question we will have reformed the 
system, but we will not have done the right thing. We will have been 
wrong about what is right.
  Mr. Speaker, as we all well know, there is language in this 
conference report that could deny the protection of bankruptcy laws to 
nonviolent protesters active in the right to life; not violent bomb-
throwers or those who physically assault women at abortion clinics, as 
has been reported. No, as a just and peaceful society, we cannot 
support private violence for any cause. Mr. Speaker, we are talking 
about the quiet, dignified men and women who do no more than pray, sing 
hymns, or hold placards outside abortion clinics, men and women who are 
doing no more than what the first amendment of the Constitution 
provides, which every single one of us in this House swore an oath to 
uphold.
  Mr. Speaker, even if we disagree with every fiber of our being, every 
one of us should be opposed to those laws and tactics that squelch 
legitimate speech and scare people from expressing their opinions. The 
bankruptcy law provides the tools to chill not only our first amendment 
rights of free speech, but our very soul as a Nation. Using the force 
of law to squelch dissent is unacceptable.
  Mr. Speaker, this law, which was crafted so carefully to permit some 
protests but crush others, will have just that result. The wealthy and 
powerful will turn their lawyers loose on quiet, peaceful protesters 
for no reason other than that they dislike the content of the speech. 
The powerful law firms for abortion rights interests will see to it 
that peaceful protesters are hauled into the justice system, are forced 
into settlement that forever forecloses dissent, or into the risk of 
threats to take their homes, property, and businesses as long as they 
live.
  We will have done the right thing in reforming the bankruptcy code if 
we pass this report, but, Mr. Speaker, we will have injured the first 
amendment. We will have set the precedent that the powerful can use the 
force of law to stamp out disagreeable speech, and we will have cruelly 
laid the foundation for a permanent debtors' class. This is a legacy I 
am not prepared to leave my country.
  Mr. Speaker, as I think about the blessing that is America, and as I 
remember those who sacrificed so that I might exercise the right to 
disagree with my colleagues this evening, I cannot escape the haunting, 
simple words of the prophet Micah who says, ``He has shown you what is 
good, to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with your God.''
  With all the respect and honor that is in me to my colleagues, and 
especially my colleagues who labored so long on this bankruptcy bill, I 
believe it is incumbent upon us to remove the offending language and 
send it back to the other body to honor and protect our Constitution, 
and not miss this calling to do justice to peaceful Americans who would 
express their dissent in this, the most troubling issue facing our 
Nation.

                          ____________________