[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 26266-26268]
[From the U.S. 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. 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

[[Page 26267]]

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.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

[[Page 26268]]

  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.

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