Russ Feingold: “I rise to support Mr. Durbin's amendment that is a complete substitute for the pending bankruptcy reform bill. This…”

“I rise to support Mr. Durbin's amendment that is a complete substitute for the pending bankruptcy reform bill. This amendment is essentially the bill that passed the Senate in 1998 by a vote of 97-1. This near unanimous vote in favor of a bill shows that it is possible to have bankruptcy reform that the whole Senate can support if it is balanced and fair. Unfortunately, I have said before, S. 420 is not balanced and fair. I have outlined in detail my concerns with this bill. Mr. Durbin's amendment goes a long way to addressing those concerns and I will vote for it if we are permitted to vote on it. One of the most significant improvements that the Durbin amendment accomplishes is that it contains much stronger credit card disclosure requirements. Literally billions of credit card solicitations flood consumers' mailboxes each year. Not millions but billions. Even though the number of bankruptcies is now on the way down, most experts agree that the rise in bankruptcy filings that occurred in the past decade was due in significant part to the irresponsible extending of credit by credit card companies and banks to people who have already shown that they cannot handle additional debt.”