Copyright 2000 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
May 19, 2000, Friday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 4
LENGTH: 441 words
HEADLINE:
Conferees nearing pact on bankruptcy bill ;
Abortion amendment remains at issue
SOURCE: Bloomberg News
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
WASHINGTON - Several top Republicans said negotiators were very close to
resolving many of the pending disputes on bankruptcy overhaul legislation.
"I think we're there," said House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill.
"We had a successful session." Hyde spoke after a meeting with Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott, R.-Miss., and Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Charles
Grassley of Iowa and Pete Sessions of Alabama. They offered few details about
agreements reached in the session and said the commitments now have to be put
down on paper.
"We think we'll get it resolved," Hatch said. "We're
still writing it." Lott said they reached "agreements conceptually" and that
still have to be written down.
No Democrats were seen entering or
leaving the meeting. Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle,
D-S.D., said he thought an agreement was close on the bill. Yet several
Democrats, such as Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, fiercely oppose the bill
and have stalled its movement for several weeks.
The bill is aimed at
reducing a sharp rise in individual bankruptcies, which reached a high of 1.4
million in 1998 before dropping to 1.3 million in 1999. It is backed by the
nation's major credit card issuers including MBNA Corp. and Citigroup Inc.
A key sticking point involves a so-called "homestead exemption," in
which Texas and other states allow debtors to keep their homes even if they've
filed for bankruptcy. Hyde said the dispute probably had been resolved, yet
didn't provide details.
Another dispute involved language to prevent
people convicted of violence against abortion and family
planning clinics from seeking bankruptcy protection to avoid
paying penalties to the clinics.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., included
a provision in the Senate bill - backed by the White House - that would prevent
an abuse of bankruptcy laws by people convicted of bombing
abortion or family planning clinics. The amendment is
politically difficult for abortion opponents, such as Hyde.
Asked about
the provision, Hyde said he thinks an agreement had been reached. "We're going
to put some language together that removes the focus on abortion," Hyde said. He
didn't elaborate.
Another dispute involved whether or not the Federal
Communications Commission could seize wireless "spectrum" licenses from NextWave
Telecom, which is in bankruptcy. The FCC believes it could raise billions by
selling the licenses at another auction. Lott suggested that a provision
inserted in earlier versions to allow NextWave to keep the licenses would be
dropped since it wasn't in either the original House or Senate bill.
GRAPHIC: Mug: Henry Hyde
LOAD-DATE: May 20, 2000 
