Orrin Hatch: “I will be short. I know these amendments are well intentioned, but they are terrible amendments. The first amendment…”

“I will be short. I know these amendments are well intentioned, but they are terrible amendments. The first amendment allows dishonest debtors to shield legitimate income from the court. The amendment creates a significant new loophole for debtors to exploit. The amendment would create an inaccurate picture of even an honest debtor's income by limiting the time period over which the income was measured. The legislation already allows the court to make adjustments to a debtor's income if necessary and, if necessary, to do justice. That amendment should be defeated. The second amendment will allow debtors to game the bankruptcy system by repeatedly filing in chapter 13. By striking the 5-year waiting period, the amendment encourages abusive repeat filings one right after the other. I hope our colleagues will vote that down. The third amendment would jeopardize bankruptcy reform by completely exempting debtors who lose their jobs because of trade imports from the provisions of the bill. Under the bill's means test, an unemployed worker would still be able to discharge all of his or her debts under chapter 7. This amendment, however, would exempt debtors from the alimony, child support, and other important protections provided by this bill. I worked long and hard for that, and I think almost everybody in this body wants it. I can't imagine anybody voting for that amendment, but I know it is well intentioned. We will leave it at that.”