[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 20536]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             FAMILY FARMER BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION, H.R. 2465

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased that the Senate is finally 
considering legislation to renew family farmer bankruptcy protection, 
which expired on July 1.
  More than a month ago, on June 23, the House of Representatives 
passed H.R. 2465 by an overwhelming vote of 379-3. This legislation 
will retroactively renew and extend family farmer bankruptcy protection 
until January 1, 2004. Senator Feingold, Senator Grassley and I have 
been urging for weeks that the Senate majority leadership bring up this 
House-passed bill to retroactively renew Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy 
Code.
  Senator Grassley and I introduced S. 1323, the companion bill to this 
legislation to temporarily extend these protections that our farmers 
have come to rely upon. But this is just a short term fix. We need to 
stop playing politics and permanently reauthorize the Chapter 12 family 
farmer protections.
  Too many family farmers have been left in legal limbo in bankruptcy 
courts across the country because Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code is 
still a temporary measure. This is the sixth time that Congress must 
act to restore or extend basic bankruptcy safeguards for family farmers 
because Chapter 12 is still a temporary provision despite its first 
passage into law in 1986. Our family farmers do not deserve these 
lapses in bankruptcy law that could mean the difference between 
foreclosure and farming.
  In 2000 and 2001, for example, the Senate--then as now controlled by 
the other party--failed to take up a House-passed bill to retroactively 
renew Chapter 12. As a result, family farmers lost Chapter 12 
bankruptcy protection for 8 months. Another lapse of Chapter 12 lasted 
more than 6 months in the previous Congress. At the end of June, 
Chapter 12 lapsed once again. Enough is enough. It is time for Congress 
to make Chapter 12 a permanent part of the Bankruptcy Code to provide a 
stable safety net for our nation's family farmers.
  Last year, I strongly supported former Senator Carnahan's bipartisan 
amendment to make Chapter 12 permanent as part of the Senate-passed 
farm bill. The Senate unanimously approved the Carnahan amendment by a 
93-0 vote. Unfortunately, the House majority objected to including the 
Carnahan amendment in the farm bill conference report and agreed to an 
extension of Chapter 12 only through the end of 2002. Thus, at the tail 
end of the last Congress, we had to pass yet another six-month 
extension of basic bankruptcy protection for family farmers.
  In the bipartisan bankruptcy reform conference, we again tried to 
make Chapter 12 permanent and update and expand its coverage. During 
our conference negotiations, we adopted most of the Senate-passed 
provisions, including those authored by Senator Grassley to make 
Chapter 12 permanent and those authored by Senator Feingold to 
strengthen Chapter 12 to help our family farmers with the difficulties 
they face.
  Unfortunately, the House majority again scuttled our bipartisan 
efforts by failing to pass the rule to consider the bipartisan 
conference report on the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer 
Protection Act.
  It is time to end this absurdity and make these bankruptcy 
protections permanent. Everyone agrees that Chapter 12 has worked. When 
this bill passed in the House, Chairman Sensenbrenner praised Chapter 
12, but then only proposed reauthorizing it for 12 months. He admitted 
that the only reason his bill, which we are finally passing today, did 
not permanently reauthorize Chapter 12 was because it is being used as 
leverage for the controversial larger bankruptcy reform bill. That is 
unfortunate.
  I will continue to work hard with Senator Grassley, Senator Feingold 
and others on both sides of the aisle to pass legislation that once and 
for all assures our farmers of permanent bankruptcy protection to keep 
their farms. In the meantime, we should quickly pass this legislation 
and end another lapse in this basic bankruptcy protection for our 
family farmers.

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