Mark Souder: “I rise deeply disappointed. I am a strong supporter of bankruptcy reform. I was a former retailer and business person…”

“I rise deeply disappointed. I am a strong supporter of bankruptcy reform. I was a former retailer and business person, and many of my supporters are in support of this. I cannot believe that we are here on the floor debating this today and that this bill has been brought up. We are likely to hear in the closing remarks from some of our leadership that this does not apply to pro-lifers and it does not sit on free speech. I think they are terribly wrong, and they put many of us in deep conflict in trying to defend civil liberties and, at the same time, reform bankruptcy; and many of us are deeply disappointed in our leadership that this bill has come forth. I think many Americans around the country, as nearly every pro-family and pro-life group in America, has stood arm in arm against this bill. National Right to Life, which does not take positions on issues such as this, is about the only one, and it does not mean that they favor the bill; it just means they are silent. This is going to be double-scored if the rule passes, and many Members are going to have their ratings go down among conservative groups, as well as liberal groups, permanently, because they have not listened to their constituents at the grassroots level and the organizations that represent them. We are going to hear probably quoted from a memo by Kenneth Starr, who has been hired by the business interests to advocate a position that is manifestly inaccurate in his memo.”