Tom Harkin: “I must at the outset admit that due to the press of business around here, and I am not on that committee that formulated…”

“I must at the outset admit that due to the press of business around here, and I am not on that committee that formulated this bill, I had not really looked at the bankruptcy portions of it in depth. A lot of people I admire and have respect for have supported the bill. I supported a number of amendments. When the bill finally passed, I had some qualms about it. I voted against it. But I had not really delved into it in very much depth until a week ago, last week, when Time magazine came out with one of the longest stories I have ever seen Time magazine do. It has been mentioned by the previous two speakers, a story called 'Soaked By Congress.' It is 12 pages or more long. I read it. When I read it, some memories started coming back to me of my days when I was a legal aid lawyer before coming to Congress. I was thinking about the people we represented at the low end of the economic spectrum who could not afford to get another attorney from a private law firm, and the people we took through bankruptcy. These were people at wit's end.”