[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4164]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 THREE-MONTH EXTENSION OF REENACTMENT OF CHAPTER 12, TITLE II, UNITED 
                              STATES CODE

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                               speech of

                            HON. DAVID MINGE

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 9, 1999

  Mr. MINGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bill H.R. 808 which 
extends Chapter 12 of Title 11 of the U.S. Code. This short-term 
extension is a good start, but it does not give our small farmers the 
security of mind they need in an already desperate agricultural 
economy. I recently introduced legislation, H.R. 763, to make the farm 
bankruptcy provisions a permanent part of the bankruptcy law. A sense 
of stability is needed to help farmers and financial planners alike.
  We know that during these periods of low commodities prices that some 
farmers simply won't be able to cash flow their operations. Current 
Chapter 12 bankruptcy law helps farmers restructure their debts to 
allow them to keep farming during the toughest times. We need to 
permanently extend this law because it works. Families are able to save 
their farms and map out a manageable repayment schedule. And we have 
seen that creditors are comfortable with this debt reorganization 
approach because it simply allows families to lengthen the period they 
have to repay their loans.

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