Political Quotes

“I want to spend a moment to comment on Senator Reid's amendment to section 109 to bar refiling of any chapter 13 within 3 years. Most chapter 13 plans now only last 3 years. A 3-year bar would harshly single out chapter 13 for treatment not found anywhere else in the code. The result of this amendment is that chapter 13's will be discouraged, even though this is widely regarded to be favored by creditors, who receive a greater percentage of repayment, and by debtors who sincerely wish to repay obligations. This proposal is inconsistent with Congress' stated policy to promote chapter 13 as an alternative to chapter 7 for individual consumer debtors. The proposed amendment is not proportional to the perceived need, in that the bankruptcy courts already have broad authority to act to dismiss repetitive, bad faith filings by consumer debtors; courts are using this authority already. In addition, there are already remedies in current section 109--109(g)(1) bars refiling within 180 days where the case was dismissed by the court for the debtor's willful failure to abide by orders of the court, or to appear before the court in proper prosecution of the case. Section 109(g)(2) bars refiling for 180 days where the debtor requested a dismissal following a creditor's filing of motion to lift the automatic stay. These provisions appear to be adequate to deal with abuses.”