On the recordNovember 14, 2002
When we began this odyssey on bankruptcy reform some 5 years ago, we began with two staunch principles guiding our pathway. One was to guarantee that those who are so overburdened, so swamped, so flooded with financial obligations that they could no longer make their way into our society's ways that they would be given the ample opportunity for a fresh start. That is what bankruptcy is all about. We guaranteed it and expanded it. As a matter of fact, it can be said that someone seeking a fresh start today under the bankruptcy reform that we want to put into the law would have an easier time than the current law. So for that purpose alone we should be supporting this legislation. The other principle was and is that those who do approach the possibility of repaying some of the debt should be accorded a mechanism by which they can repay some of that debt over a period of years.
Source
govinfo.gov
