Chuck Grassley: “First of all, I think the Senator from Minnesota thinks that he has not made any impact on this legislation over the…”

“First of all, I think the Senator from Minnesota thinks that he has not made any impact on this legislation over the last 4 years. This bill is a statement of considerable impact that the Senator from Minnesota has made on it because of his hard work. His work goes beyond just improving the bill. He obviously does not want the improved bill to pass. But the Senator from Minnesota is a legislator. He obviously believes in the legislative process. He knows how to use the legislative process to accomplish good from his point of view. And we have a bill that has changed considerably since the recommendations in the Commission on Bankruptcy report. Senator Durbin and I introduced that bill two Congresses ago. It went through the process of subcommittee, full committee, to the floor of the Senate, through the House of Representatives, through conference, through the House a second time but not having enough time to get it through the floor of the Senate that second time to get it to the President. Then, in the last Congress, it went through the same process: subcommittee, full committee, the floor of the Senate, the House of Representatives subcommittee, full committee, the floor of the House of Representatives, to conference and out of conference, passing the House of Representatives by a veto-proof margin, and through the Senate, passing the Senate by a veto-proof margin, and going to President Clinton for his signature.”