Patrick Leahy: “I intend to vote for the Bankruptcy Reform Act to send it to conference in the hope that we can continue to improve the…”

“I intend to vote for the Bankruptcy Reform Act to send it to conference in the hope that we can continue to improve the bill so that a balanced bankruptcy reform bill can be signed into law by President Clinton this year. We have adopted 45 amendments during the floor debate on this bill-- amendments offered by Republicans and Democrats. During the course of our floor debate, Senators from both sides of the aisle have come forward to made bipartisan progress to improve this bill from that reported by the Judiciary Committee. I want to thank Chairman Hatch and Senator Grassley for working with us, with me and Senator Reid and Senator Torricelli, and with the proponents of many amendments. This debate has not been easy with more than 300 amendments filed to the bill back in November. We have worked through those amendments. Let there be no confusion: This is certainly not the bill that I would have drafted, even now after the amendment process. This is not as good or as balanced a bill as that which the Senate passed by a 97 to one vote in 1998. Still, it has been significantly improved in its bankruptcy provisions through a bipartisan amendment process. We have worked in good faith with the Republican managers to have an open debate. This is how the Senate works and how it should work. From a total of 320 amendments, we have now worked through them all. That is a bipartisan accomplishment of which we can all be proud.”