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   Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I strongly believe that reform of our bankruptcy laws is necessary. During the 105th and 106th Congress, I have supported legislation to reform bankruptcy laws and end the abuse of the system. However, I am very disappointed that I am unable to support the conference report of the Bankruptcy Reform Bill because I believe it is unfair and unbalanced, was completed without appropriate consideration by the Minority party, includes an inequitable homestead provision and is unfair to many working families.

   I am very concerned that the decision to file for bankruptcy is too often used as an economic tool to avoid responsibility for unsound business decisions and reckless acts by both individuals and businesses. There has been a decline in the stigma of filing for bankruptcy and appropriate changes are necessary to ensure that bankruptcy is no longer considered a lifestyle choice.

   This legislation includes a number of important reforms which I support. I am pleased that the small business provisions originally included in the Senate bill have been changed to give small businesses adequate time to develop a reorganization plan during bankruptcy proceedings. I had previously included an amendment to the Senate bill that increased this time for small businesses. I am also pleased that the conference report includes my amendment to expand the credit committee membership under Chapter 11 bankruptcies to include small businesses. I believe this will ensure better access and information for small businesses creditors. Unfortunately, reasonable and necessary reforms were included in a bill that on the whole fails to take a balanced approach to bankruptcy reform. I had hoped that through a legitimate legislative process we would arrive at a compromise that would have ended the abuses but still provided our most vulnerable citizens with adequate protections. Instead, I believe that the conference report protects wealthy debtors by allowing them to use overly broad homestead exemptions to shield assets from their creditors. The Senate passed, by a bipartisan vote of 76-22, an amendment to create a $100,000 nationwide cap on any homestead exemption. However, this provision was not included in the Conference Report. Instead, the conferees included a meaningless cap with a two-year residency requirement that wealthy debtors could easily avoid. Moreover, the bill's safe harbor is illusory and will not benefit individuals in most need of help. Because the safe harbor is based on the combined income of the debtor and the debtor's spouse, many single mothers who are separated from their husbands and who are not receiving child support will not be able to take advantage of the safe harbor provision.

   I am also very disappointed that the conference report does not include an amendment offered by Senator COLLINS and myself, which was included in the Senate bill, that would make Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code, which now applies to family farmers, applicable

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   In addition to its failure to protect many consumers, the bill fails to require that the credit industry share responsibility for reducing the number of bankruptcy cases. It does not require specific disclosures on monthly credit card statements that would show the time it would take to pay off a balance and the cost of credit if only minimum payments are made. It also does nothing to discourage lenders from further increasing the debt of consumers who are already overburdened with debt.

   Finally, this bill is the result of a conference process that violated and deprived the rights of Senators. In October, the House appointed conferees for the Bankruptcy Reform Act and without holding a conference meeting, the Majority filed a conference report striking international security legislation and replacing with a reference to a bankruptcy reform bill introduced earlier that same day. This makes a mockery of the legislative process and demeans the United States Senate.

   I am hopeful that during the 107th Congress, we can develop bipartisan legislation that would encourage responsibility and reduce abuses of the bankruptcy system.

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