[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 82 (Monday, June 4, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S3680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       THE TEMPORARY BANKRUPTCY JUDGESHIPS EXTENSION ACT OF 2012

  Mr. COONS. Madam President, we have averted a crisis in the 
bankruptcy court system. It may have been a quiet crisis--one few 
Americans talked about--but it was real nonetheless. Although it is all 
too rare in Washington these days, on this issue, we found a way to 
work together and deliver a solution. I am proud to say that on May 25, 
President Obama signed into law legislation I authored to extend 29 
expiring temporary bankruptcy judgeships in 19 judicial districts.
  With this new law, some of our Nation's busiest bankruptcy courts--
those in Nevada and Delaware and New York and Michigan and Florida and 
so many other States--will finally be able to replace a sitting 
bankruptcy judge if he or she resigns or dies in office.
  Especially in times of economic recovery and uncertain growth, our 
bankruptcy courts perform a vital restorative role for our Nation's 
economy. Bankruptcy courts can give individuals, many of whom are 
victims of our great recession, a clean slate to start fresh. They give 
corporations that can't pay their bills an opportunity to restructure 
their debts and continue in operation, rather than shuttering their 
offices and factories, multiplying the pain by putting Americans out of 
work.
  Bankruptcy offers relief for creditors as well by providing an 
orderly distribution of the debtor's estate. Without bankruptcy, the 
debts of past mistakes, miscalculations, and misfortune will remain on 
the balance sheets, unpaid and yet unpayable.
  Over the past 20 years, Congress has created dozens of temporary 
bankruptcy judgeships to meet the needs of our growing population and 
occasional economic downturns. Perhaps these judgeships were created on 
a temporary, rather than permanent, basis out of some sense of enduring 
optimism--optimism that we one day will have a significantly smaller 
need for our bankruptcy courts that we had when they were created. In 
fact, the caseloads in several of the districts authorized in the past 
have declined and those judgeships have been allowed to expire. This 
new law, however, is about districts where the caseloads remain high 
and which cannot afford to lose even a single authorized judgeship.
  According to the judges I hear from, as well as from the nonpartisan 
Judicial Conference of the United States, which is headed by Chief 
Justice Roberts, these judgeships simply must be reauthorized--and now 
that the Temporary Bankruptcy Judgeships Extension Act is law, they 
have been.
  This legislation passed the House and Senate unanimously because it 
is good policy. It is pro-growth, pro-opportunity, and pro-justice. The 
CBO has scored it to be paid for and it is so bipartisan that it is 
nonpartisan.
  I am grateful for the willingness of my colleagues to compromise and 
help find a mutually acceptable solution to head off a looming crisis 
in our bankruptcy courts. The amendment that permitted passage of this 
legislation is a one-time accommodation that provides additional fee 
revenue to the Judiciary so that this bill will not lead to increased 
demands on appropriators. It also reaffirms that Congress, in 
legislating on these temporary judgeships in the future, ought to do so 
only after carefully examining their continued need and our ability to 
pay for them.
  I know my colleagues on both sides of the aisle did not get 
everything that they wanted in this legislation, but my confidence in 
this institution has been buoyed by the ability of both sides to 
recognize the greater good at stake and find their way to this deal.
  I want to thank Leader Reid, Senator Durbin, Senator Grassley, 
Senator Coburn, the group of 12 bipartisan cosponsors, and all those 
who have worked constructively to help enact this very simple and very 
important law.
  In particular, I thank President Obama, for with his signature, we 
have taken an important step toward delivering to the American people 
the fair, speedy, and accessible bankruptcy court system they deserve.

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