1dayatatime
04-14-2005, 05:16 PM
Congress OKs Bankruptcy Reform
President Says He'll Sign Bill Into Law
POSTED: 10:57 am EDT April 14, 2005
UPDATED: 3:46 pm EDT April 14, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The biggest overhaul of the bankruptcy laws in a quarter-century has won final congressional approval.
The House approved a bill Thursday that will make it much harder to wipe out debts by filing for bankruptcy.
The bill requires people with incomes above a certain level to pay credit-card charges, medical bills and other obligations under a court-ordered bankruptcy plan.
Opponents said the change would fall especially hard on low-income working people, single mothers, minorities and the elderly.
They warned it would remove a safety net for those who have lost their jobs or face crushing medical bills.
The bill the Senate passed last month is a top priority for the administration.
Passage ends an eight-year push for the measure by the credit-card and banking industries.
President George W. Bush has said he will sign the bill into law.
The American Bankruptcy Institute estimated that between 30,000 and 210,000 people -- from 3.5 percent to 20 percent of those who dissolve their debts in bankruptcy each year in exchange for forfeiting some assets -- would be disqualified from doing so under the legislation.
President Says He'll Sign Bill Into Law
POSTED: 10:57 am EDT April 14, 2005
UPDATED: 3:46 pm EDT April 14, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The biggest overhaul of the bankruptcy laws in a quarter-century has won final congressional approval.
The House approved a bill Thursday that will make it much harder to wipe out debts by filing for bankruptcy.
The bill requires people with incomes above a certain level to pay credit-card charges, medical bills and other obligations under a court-ordered bankruptcy plan.
Opponents said the change would fall especially hard on low-income working people, single mothers, minorities and the elderly.
They warned it would remove a safety net for those who have lost their jobs or face crushing medical bills.
The bill the Senate passed last month is a top priority for the administration.
Passage ends an eight-year push for the measure by the credit-card and banking industries.
President George W. Bush has said he will sign the bill into law.
The American Bankruptcy Institute estimated that between 30,000 and 210,000 people -- from 3.5 percent to 20 percent of those who dissolve their debts in bankruptcy each year in exchange for forfeiting some assets -- would be disqualified from doing so under the legislation.