Dick Durbin: “when Senator Specter comes to the floor, soon he will lay down this bill, S. 256. It is about 500 pages. It is a…”

“when Senator Specter comes to the floor, soon he will lay down this bill, S. 256. It is about 500 pages. It is a recurring theme on the floor of the Senate. In the 9 years I have served in the Senate, I think a bankruptcy bill has been on the floor almost every year. I know this because when I first came to the Senate, to the Senate Judiciary Committee, I was the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee that wrote the bill. Senator Chuck Grassley and I came together and crafted what I thought to be a very fair and balanced bill. We were approached by people who said there are a lot of abuses in bankruptcy. There are people filing for bankruptcy who can really pay their debts. So let's try to tighten the process. Those who were irresponsible in their conduct, those who incurred debt and turned to the bankruptcy court and tried to be absolved from their financial responsibilities should be held accountable. Senator Grassley and I agreed on that. We crafted a bill that was very balanced. The bill passed the Senate 97 to 1. Sadly, it did not go forward. The House had a different idea. After the House got its hands on it, it did not look anything like the bill we originally introduced. The bill kept disappearing, reappearing, disappearing, and reappearing, and here it is again, S. 256. Unfortunately, this version of S. 256 is a far cry from the original balanced approach. This bill is not balanced. Who wants this bill?…”