Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, we share, all of us, the reverence for the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), two of the statesmen of our organization and to whom we look for decision-making on a broad spate of subject matters. But here I think they themselves may not realize what they are espousing. I say that with all kindness, because there are many times when I do not realize what I am doing, but this may be an example of good intentions that result in unintended consequences. We have heard that phraseology many times. What the gentlemen do, these two stalwarts of our Chamber, is shower additional benefits upon the higher income people in our society. How do they do that? All of us will agree that this whole process begins with the median income. Those people at the median income or less are protected by legislation that the gentleman from Illinois himself has put into this bill, the safe harbor. Those people are beyond the accountability that we seek from others because they are in such bad shape that they must be given almost automatically a fresh start. But now we are going to the higher income, over $50,000, 60, 70, 80, 90. Now, those people under our bill, we have a set of standards to make sure that when we scrutinize their financial circumstances, we can find, if at all, the possibility that they could repay some of the debt.”