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Further analysis shows that changes would result in many divorced women with children waiting five years or more to receive all of their past due child support. Additionally, the changes could prevent an ex-wife from getting relief from liability for some of her husband's credit card debt and may also result in the loss of the family home (under Chapter 13 bankruptcy requirements). 

If these radical changes are made to bankruptcy law, NOW and many women's organizations fear that child support obligations will not be paid or that they will be paid late -- placing many single-headed households at risk. Others who could be seriously disadvantaged by the legislation are: women who file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the wake of divorce to stabilize a shaky financial situation, older persons who have been thrown out of work or had their income severely impacted by major illness and others whose incomes have been affected by companies down-sizing or relocating. 

News reports indicate that tens of millions of dollars have been spent by the banking industry to promote the legislation and that key Congressional leaders have received hundreds of thousands of dollars for their re-election campaigns. Their hope, apparently, was to quietly move it through a friendly Congress, while the public attention was diverted by Special Prosecutor Ken Starr's second indictment of Webster Hubbell, the refusal of immunity for Monica Lewinsky and other distractions. 

The House Judiciary Committee has set a mark-up session on Tuesday, May 12th, for H.R. 3150, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1998, sponsored by Rep. George Gekas (R-PA) and 39 other members. Its Senate counterpart, S. 1301, the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1998, sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) will undergo a mark-up session possibly as early as May 14th. A hearing had been set for the Senate, but when serious criticism began to surface, the committee leadership decided to go directly to final mark-up in an effort to rush through the legislation. 
 
The National Bankruptcy Review Commission declined to support any of the proposed changes and three of the presidential appointees to the Commission spoke out against the proposals. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, writing in her regular Washington Times newspaper column, Talking it Over on May 7, opposed the changes, noting that 1.4 million families file for protection from unmanageable consumer debt each year -- a 400 percent increase since 1980. Ms. Clinton said that some reform is in order, but not any change that would threaten the welfare of children. 

In promoting this legislation, credit card issuers have portrayed credit card debtors as irresponsible abusers of the system -- running up huge debts that they fully intend to walk away from after filing for bankruptcy. Elizabeth Warren, professor of bankruptcy law at Harvard University and her colleagues, interviewed thousands of bankruptcy filers in 16 judicial districts to find that this is not often the case. The vast majority of persons who file for bankruptcy are conscientious individuals who try to keep up with monthly payments but become overwhelmed when a personal calamity occurs -- such as divorce, illness, job loss, death of a spouse or some other major life event. 

Prof. Warren indicates that during 1997, an estimated 243,000 to 325,000 bankruptcy cases involved child support and alimony orders. In about half of the cases studied, women were creditors trying to collect child support and alimony from their bankrupt ex-partners. 
 
Sen. Chris Dodd and 23 other Senators announced their opposition on May 6th to the provision that would alter the priority placed on money reserved for child support, noting that currently the bankruptcy code calls for spousal and child support payments to be given priority over repayment of debt. "This change could be devastating to children," Sen. Dodd noted. In addition, scores of bankruptcy judges and scholars have declared the current debate "ill considered, rushed and unbalanced" and have urged Congress to slow down, hold more hearings, and seek out a balanced, reasoned approach. 

ACTION NEEDED

Republican Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK), an African American, differed with the party's leadership on this amendment and voted for its defeat. Rep. Watts joined with Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) in writing colleagues in the House that "this is not the time to eliminate the one tool we have -- imperfect though it may be -- to help level the playing field for many minority youth." 

ACTION NEEDED

ACTION NEEDED

Advocates have made the link between teen smoking and high quality child care and after- school programs. They note that quality early childhood programs have been shown to reduce criminal behavior which is correlated with risky behaviors such as smoking and using drugs. Other studies show that the nearly five million children who at home alone after school are much more likely to succumb to peer pressure or sophisticated marketing schemes and to engage in risky behaviors. After-school programs are also an important venue for providing anti-smoking information to young people and to model healthy life choices. Statistics show that every day 3,000 children start smoking and that more than three million teen-agers smoke. 

ACTION NEEDED