Chuck Schumer: “I hope everybody will pay attention to this debate, which has been going on intermittently in the Chamber for the last 4…”

“I hope everybody will pay attention to this debate, which has been going on intermittently in the Chamber for the last 4 or 5 years. Not much has changed, except the votes of some of my colleagues, if you can believe the press reports. Let me start by saying I believe in bankruptcy reform. It is very wrong for people to abuse the code. But reform should be across the board, it should be applied fairly. It should not be just for some interests. When some interests are abused, we legislate on that, but when other interests are abused, we do not. It should not sweep under the rug people who have real needs, as the amendments of some of my colleagues--the Senator from Massachusetts and the Senator from Illinois--have tried to address. A reform bill should not contain a trove of treats for some supposed victims of the system, such as banks and credit card companies, but leave others shivering in the cold. For this reason, the bankruptcy bill before us today does not do the trick. It has many deficiencies and, to my mind, a glaring, gaping hole. While the bill supporters give lipservice to fairness, they have carved out a loophole for those who use violence, for those who seek to use bankruptcy for a purpose it was never intended. It is a loophole that I cannot live with, and, once upon a time, in a different world, the vast majority of Senators agreed with me and voted to close this loophole.”