The House voted 315-113 to approve a proposal to overhaul the nation's bankruptcy laws on March 19, 2003. The House Bill is nearly identical to the Bill passed in the last session of Congress but never voted into law. The bill's supporters acknowledged it was only an early step in what is bound to be a long march toward possible enactment. While proponents, who included Republicans and a sizable number of Democrats, argued that the bill would clamp down on debtors seeking to take advantage of the bankruptcy system and make them pay more of what they owe, Democratic opponents said it would also sweep in debtors in truly dire straits. The bill received nine votes more than the similar bill from 2001.
The latest bill would apply a means test to funnel more debtors into Chapter 13, a less permissive section of the Bankruptcy Code, requiring more individuals to restructure their debt as opposed to wiping the slate clean.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) urged colleagues to take a fresh look at the measure in light of changing economic circumstances during the six years that have elapsed since the bill's inception, reported CongressDaily. House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) responded, "If you can pay some of your debt-that's your obligation, and why should you pass that on to people who pay 100 percent of their bills all the time?" The House also defeated a proposed Democratic substitute, which among other things would have addressed what Nadler characterized as the lending industry's "irresponsible extension of credit" to individuals clearly unable to pay back the loan, the newswire reported.
House bill supporters in the course of floor debate alluded repeatedly to a future House-Senate conference-indicating they have little faith the Senate will take up and approve the House-passed bill.
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