Chuck Grassley: “I say that this amendment detracts some from the purpose of the legislation. Maybe it is meant to. To the extent it is…”

“I say that this amendment detracts some from the purpose of the legislation. Maybe it is meant to. To the extent it is, I hope people will vote against it. To the extent that people see this as a legitimate part of what we are debating, then I would offer this point. I am going to offer more than one point very central to the amendment, and then I will stick to my remarks. But the fact is there is a way to handle this problem to make sure that these companies don't get off scot-free. I am going to refer to a product that Senator Heflin from Alabama-- before he retired from the Senate--and I worked very closely on, which was bankruptcy legislation. During the years he and I served together-- I think 14 or 16 years--during that period of time when we were in the majority on this side, I chaired the committee and he was the ranking minority member. When his party was in control, he was chairman and I was the ranking minority member. I am going to refer to some legislation we were able to get passed in 1994 when he was chairman of the committee. I think it is a thoughtful and bipartisan way to deal with this. First of all, I believe this amendment proposed by the Senator from Michigan is unsound as a matter of policy.”