Zoe Lofgren: “as someone who has worked on bankruptcy revision as a lawyer in the past, I cannot stand here and say that the existing…”

“as someone who has worked on bankruptcy revision as a lawyer in the past, I cannot stand here and say that the existing system is perfect. In fact it is not perfect, and there are areas in which reform is warranted. However, I do not believe that H.R. 3150, the bill before us, provides an acceptable answer to the defects that currently exist. Much has been said about why we are seeing this increase in bankruptcy filings. It is clear that part of the reason is the massive increase in the amount of unsolicited and unwarranted credit that is being promulgated throughout our country. Last week my little girl received an unsolicited, preapproved credit card application at home. I was of a mind to let her take the card since creditors cannot collect against minors in California, but instead we ripped it up. Because of the problems of this bill, Congress has seen an unprecedented response from people who do not ordinarily become involved in legislative matters of this kind, including bankruptcy judges from all over the United States who have urged us to stop this process because of the bill's unintended consequences. Much has been said about the impact on women and children, and I wanted to note as a member of the Committee on the Judiciary I did support the minor amendments made during committee mark-up to try to address the issue of child support, but they did not fix the problem.”