BANKRUPTCY REFORM MAY HAVE HIT A SNAG
June 13, 2001
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After maintaining confidence over the past five years as the Senate’s chief sponsor of the bankruptcy reform legislation (S. 420), Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) yesterday commented that he wasn’t hopeful about the legislation’s prospects. When asked whether he was optimistic about the current bankruptcy bill’s chances, Grassley said “No. Not as long as it is going to conference with a majority of conferees against the bill.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) yesterday said that he was still working on the list of conferees and trying to determine what the precise partisan ratio on the conference committee would be.
Grassley said he expected Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y) to join Leahy in conference. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), who has been an advocate of the bill, is also a possible conferee. Senate conferees could be named today or tomorrow.
Despite the fact that most Senate Democrats voted for the bankruptcy bill earlier this year, many observers believe that Leahy may drive a hard bargain in conference. The final product could be hard for the credit industry and House Republicans to swallow. Grassley said that House Republicans remain adamant about not accepting the Senate’s language on a homestead cap and debts arising from abortion clinic violence, but Leahy
said that his goal in the conference was to maintain the Senate language.
Also, House Financial Services Chairman Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) yesterday announced that he and his committee would take part in the conference to reconcile the House (H.R. 333) and Senate (S. 420) bankruptcy reform bills. Oxley said that he was unsure, however, how many other members of his panel would also sit on the conference committee.
In preparing himself for the conference, Oxley said he anticipates strong Texan opposition to placing more restrictive caps on the amount of assets Texas homeowners can protect in bankruptcy. Senate Democrats have vowed to make the homestead issue a high-profile matter.
