Political Quotes

“in the 105th Congress, the Senate passed a meaningful bankruptcy reform bill by an almost unanimous vote. I voted for that bill because I thought it was a well-balanced reform bill that would discourage abuse of the system and provide enhanced protections and reasonable information to consumers. The final version of that bill was not approved in the 105th Congress, and so, once again, we engaged in debate over how to restructure the nation's bankruptcy laws. When we started debate on this bill, it was substantially different from the moderate, bi-partisan bill of last Congress. I was particularly concerned with the provisions relative to the means-test and consumer credit card disclosures. However, over the course of this debate, the Senate has adopted more than 40 amendments, making this a more reasonable approach to bankruptcy reform. As reported out of the Judiciary Committee, the bankruptcy reform bill did not include consumer protections providing reasonable disclosures of unsecured credit such as credit cards. Studies show that bankruptcy filings increase as household debt increases. High debt-to-income ratios makes working Americans more vulnerable to financial emergencies. I am pleased that the Senate accepted an amendment to provide enhanced access to consumer credit information.”