Chuck Grassley: “as we take up the conference report to the bankruptcy bill, I want to make clear that this report is a balanced and fair…”

“as we take up the conference report to the bankruptcy bill, I want to make clear that this report is a balanced and fair compromise between the House and Senate bankruptcy bills. The fact of the matter is that the process of a conference is a process of joining two bills that have passed both Houses in different forms. One of the key differences between the House and Senate was the question of means testing. The House had a very strict formula, while the Senate bill contained a change to a section of the bankruptcy code which directs judges to consider repayment capacity. On this point of means testing, the House had one provision formula driven, very much different from the Senate provision that was more subjective in the decision of a judge of whether somebody should be in chapter 7 or chapter 13. But, obviously, even in the Senate bill, we had penalties and incentives for people who should be filing under chapter 13 but, in fact, filed under chapter 7. We had these differences on means testing between the House and the Senate. Under the conference report that is now before us, a debtor can file in any chapter of the bankruptcy code, and before a debtor can be transferred from chapter 7 to chapter 13, a judge will review the merits of each case.”