BAD BANKRUPTCY “REFORM” BILL NOT LIKELY BEFORE JULY 4 RECESS

June 28, 2002

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House and Senate bankruptcy conferees will not finish their work on the anti-consumer bankruptcy “reform” bill before lawmakers embark on the July 4 recess and may not resolve their differences even by the August recess, sources close to the negotiations predicted, according to Congress Daily. It won’t be this week, said a spokesman for House Judiciary Chairman and Conference Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.).

The spokesman siad that although the bankruptcy legislation remains a “top-tier” priority for the House panel, both the House and Senate Judiciary committess have busy agendas in the weeks leading up to the August recess. There are just three legislative weeks in July before the month-long recess.

Aides to conferees negotiating on the sections of the bill that remain in dispute, specifically Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) continued exchanging language on Monday. In an interview with CongressDaily, Schumer described last week’s private, members-only meeting as “the best meeting we’ve ever had.” He expressed confidence that the meeting would prove to be a turning point, and the bankruptcy legislation would soon be a “done deal.”