Negotiators Agree on Bill to Rewrite Bankruptcy Laws By PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON, July 25 — Congressional negotiators announced today that they had reached agreement on a bill that would rewrite the bankruptcy laws, making it much harder for people to escape their debts when they declare bankruptcy.
The agreement, a victory for credit card companies and other lenders, came late today after members of a conference committee reached a compromise on the language of an abortion- rights provision that had threatened to scuttle the overall bill. The compromise will restrict the ability of anti-abortion protesters to use the bankruptcy laws to shield themselves from paying court fines resulting from protests at abortion clinics.
The overall bankruptcy bill, which passed both houses of Congress by overwhelming margins more than a year ago, appears destined for final approval in the House and Senate, and the White House has suggested that President Bush will sign it. The House could vote on the measure as early as Friday, the day it is scheduled to begin a monthlong summer recess. Conference committee members were under pressure to reach an agreement before the break.
"We have worked hard for a year to make this a better and more balanced bill, and we have succeeded," said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and who led the conference committee. "I look forward to working on a bipartisan basis to get it passed."
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The final wording of the compromise provision was not immediately made public tonight, but Senator Schumer said in an interview that it "contains language that says that those who use violence or blockades to close or harass clinics are not protected by bankruptcy for their liabilities." He described the result as "a victory for women."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/26/business/26BANK.html