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January 29, 2004 at 07:00 PM
NU Online News Service, Jan. 29, 2004, 5:11 p.m. EST – House Republicans are trying to use a popular farm bankruptcy bill to get a general bankruptcy bill through the Senate.[@@]
House members voted 265-99 Wednesday to add the general bankruptcy bill, H.R. 975, to S. 1920, its version of an agriculture bankruptcy reform bill that started in the Senate.
Some Democratic senators have argued that H.R. 975 helps credit card companies at the expense of consumers who have a hard time resisting the urge to accumulate credit card debt. Other Democratic senators say a general bankruptcy reform bill should include a provision that would stop abortion protesters from filing for bankruptcy protection to avoid paying protest-related court judgments.
The sponsor of H.R. 975 is Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Sensenbrenner put out a statement welcoming the House decision to add his bill to S. 1920. “The bankruptcy system is broken and gets worse every day,” Sensenbrenner says in the statement.
Dishonest, abusive bankruptcies burden the system and force lenders to charge higher interest rates for all borrowers, Sensenbrenner says.
