Jim Sensenbrenner: “I appreciate the impassioned speech by the gentleman from Illinois. I am afraid he has forgotten a couple of things as…”

“I appreciate the impassioned speech by the gentleman from Illinois. I am afraid he has forgotten a couple of things as he has been talking about how good Chapter 12 is. First of all, Congress did pass an extension of Chapter 12. It was by a voice vote in this House and an overwhelming vote in the Senate as a part of a bankruptcy reform bill, and Chapter 12 would be permanent today if it were not for the fact that President Clinton pocket vetoed the Bankruptcy Reform Act in the last Congress; and in this Congress, the House has been attempting to reach a compromise with the other body in the bankruptcy conference. We sent a proffer to the Senate in February to resolve all of the outstanding issues, and the other body rejected it. So there has not been any negligence on the part of the House of Representatives in reaching a conclusion on this. We still continue our negotiations. One of my top priorities this year is to get a bankruptcy bill passed and signed into law that will help out everybody in this country, not just the 383 people who filed for Chapter 12 in the year 2001.”