Political Quotes

“I think this is a well-intended amendment, but as the distinguished Senator from Iowa said, it is a cannon to kill a gnat. As I recall, in physics--I believe it was Newton--that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I really believe in the overall situation, that this amendment is really self-defeating for the intent toward which it is directed. The intent is that a debtor ought to rarely use bankruptcy, and that if there is a way for him to pay debts, that he ought to pay his debts. I believe that people ought to pay their debts, and the concept of creating chapter 13 was to provide a way to pay your debts. In order to understand this situation, you have to understand the difference between chapter 7 and chapter 13. Chapter 7 is just outright bankrupting your debts. You say, ``Here are my assets.'' In most instances there are none. And ``Here are my liabilities,'' and the blackboard is erased completely. A debtor comes out, and his creditors cannot go to court. They cannot execute on you. They cannot garnish. So chapter 7 is a procedure by which a debtor gets rid of his debts. The intent of this bill is to say that a debtor ought to pay his debts and, therefore, there are procedures in the Bankruptcy Code under chapter 13 that will allow time to pay one's debts. What we are talking about here with the pending amendment is, really, to put an impediment into the process by which debts can be paid in bankruptcy proceedings.”