Political Quotes

“The first thing I would urge is for the United States Senate to try to immediately move this bill into effect. Let me tell my colleagues the predicament. Since last July, farmers have not had the availability of chapter 12 which was originally designed and specifically written to accommodate their needs in a bankruptcy situation. We are now facing an environment in United States agriculture where commodity prices are at record lows. Many farmers that had become highly leveraged are now facing bankruptcy or the potential for bankruptcy. Chapter 11 and chapter 13 do not accommodate the needs of a family farmer. In too many cases they simply have to sell out their equipment or other property. To tell a farmer to reorganize, but at the same time urging, insisting that that farmer sell their means of production, their livelihood, the way they can work themselves out of debt means often that those farmers are put out of business. Congress I think has long recognized, Mr. Speaker, that farmers face special circumstances in bankruptcy not faced by other debtors.”