Dobson Denounces Congressional Leaders Over Bankruptcy Reform Bill

Focus on the Family
Thursday, 14 November 2002

Pro-Family Group Calls on Congress to Hold Discriminatory Bill

Dr. James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, has denounced efforts by Republican leaders in Congress to bring a bankruptcy reform bill to the House floor for a vote. Dobson said on his nationally-syndicated radio program that the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives was expected to try to advance the bill for a vote during the current lame-duck session, perhaps as early as today. Similar efforts may also be under way in the Senate. Dobson singled out newly elected House Majority Leader Tom DeLay for criticism.

The bill is a comprehensive reform of the nation's bankruptcy laws, but it also includes a discriminatory provision ¾ inserted by liberal New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer ¾ that the pro-life community finds offensive.

Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., and a guest on the broadcast, explained the problem with the proposed legislation.

"(The Schumer amendment) effectively says, 'If you are a pro-life protester and you wind up with a money judgment against you for engaging in what we regard as constitutionally protected speech and activity, you are not going to be able to discharge that debt in bankruptcy," Connor told Focus on the Family listeners. "The effect of that is to create a disfavored class for. . . purposes of punishing politically incorrect speech, because the only group that is being singled out for this kind of treatment (is) pro-life protestors."

Until now, the bill has been held up by a small group of pro-life congressmen.

Dobson, noting the recent shift in power in Congress to the Republicans with the November election, asked House and Senate leaders to heed the concerns of pro-life Americans. He asked that action on the bill be postponed until January, when Republicans will have a majority in the Senate, and would be able to strip the Schumer amendment from the bill.

Dobson especially called on listeners to contact DeLay and express their concerns about this legislation.

More information can be found at: www.citizenlink.org.

For more information, or to contact Focus on the Family, see their website at: www.family.org