[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16124]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               AMERICA'S BANKRUPTCY LAWS NEED TO BE FIXED

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, America's bankruptcy laws need to be fixed. 
The system is broken, and we need to act. In fact, we have acted. The 
House of Representatives has passed an excellent bill to do the job. 
Unfortunately, the other body has injected one of the most 
controversial issues of our time, abortion, into this legislation. Now 
many of us simply can no longer vote for it.
  The issue of abortion does not belong in this bill. Mr. Speaker, as 
it is written now, the bankruptcy bill singles out peaceful, 
nonviolent, pro-life protesters for unusually harsh punishment if they 
pray or protest or hand out leaflets in front of an abortion clinic. I 
ask my colleagues, why is it okay to have civil rights protests, why is 
it okay to have union protests, why is it okay to have animal rights 
protests or peace protests, and why is it not okay to protest in 
defense of unborn babies?
  This Congress should stand for equal treatment under the law. We 
should not have one set of rules for liberals, another for 
conservatives; one set of rules for pro-choice people, another for pro-
life people. It is not right, and that is why we want to see the 
bankruptcy bill fixed before we vote on it.

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