mr. speaker , after eight years of consideration , we are now poised to enact bankruptcy legislation that is deeply flawed . 
like so many of the policy priorities pursued by this congress and the administration , this bill hurts the most vulnerable among our citizens . 
many of my colleagues have already discussed the terrible provisions that the legislation now before the house would implement . 
for example , this bill would institute a means test for eligibility to file chapter 7 bankruptcy that two national commissions have concluded would be counter-productive , difficult to administer , and would yield little revenue to creditors . 
it would remove critical automatic stay provisions that currently prevent the eviction of those who are seeking to clear arrearages in their rent . 
s. 256 also would reduce the amount of personal property that those filing for bankruptcy can retain . 
the republican-crafted and credit-industry driven bankruptcy reform bill is inapposite the goals for which bankruptcy was conceived . 
bankruptcy is intended to provide a `fresh start ' to those who file -- not leave them sinking in financial quicksand . 
however , rather than highlight the numerous other misguided provisions of s. 256 , i want to look for a moment at the economic policies of which this legislation is just one more disappointing part . 
the sponsors of s. 256 claim that the rising number of people filing bankruptcies in our nation is evidence that there is widespread abuse of our current bankruptcy protections . 
actually , the rise in bankruptcy filings is a powerful and tragic reminder that our administration 's economic policies are not raising living standards but are instead contributing to the increases in bankruptcy filings . 
i note that bankruptcy filings actually decreased in 2004 . 
in the economic report of the president delivered to congress in february of this year , the administration wrote that the `` president 's policies are designed to foster rising living standards at home , while encouraging other nations to follow our lead. '' the president 's policies are not worthy of emulation in other nations -- and they are not worthy of continuation in our nation . 
job creation in our nation is failing to keep pace with the growth in the labor force . 
the brookings institution has noted that since the year 2000 , there has been a 2 percent decrease in workforce participation among young people aged 25-34 , which is unprecedented since world war ii . 
slow job creation has also put little pressure on businesses to raise wages . 
as a result , wages for many low- and middle-income workers are now not keeping pace with consumer prices . 
perhaps not surprisingly , the congressional research service found that in 2001 , 27 percent of families in the lowest one-fifth of household income distributions had debt obligations that exceeded 40 percent of their incomes . 
while workers are not seeing increases in their purchasing power , they are also being left without health insurance to cover their medical expenses . 
a recent harvard study published earlier this year found that nearly half of all bankruptcy filings involve some major medical expense . 
as recently as 1981 , medical expenses accounted for less than 10 percent of bankruptcy filings . 
forty-five million americans are now uninsured -- and countless millions more regularly experience lapses in coverage . 
more than 38 percent of those who filed bankruptcy for medical reasons were found to have experienced some type of lapse in their insurance coverage during the two years preceding their filing . 
in fact , 90 percent of the bankruptcies filed are by those who have been injured , are sick , have been laid off , and/or are going through a divorce . 
laid-off workers are the fastest growing group of people filing bankruptcy . 
all the while , credit card company abuses are mounting in the form of deceptive marketing practices , irresponsible accounting practices and other predatory practices . 
negative amortization by credit card companies require minimum payments so low as to allow debt to increase rather than be reduced . 
these practices are designed to give the debtor a false sense of financial health while incurring more debt . 
the result is often inevitable . 
the minute a tragedy strikes and a debtor falls behind in one payment , debtors are often swarmed upon by all of their credit card companies -- who want to collect immediately . 
this is an unfair result for these debtors and a boon for creditors . 
and now , congress is poised to add insult to uninsured injury by destroying the basic protections that our bankruptcy laws have offered to those most in need . 
mr. speaker , the increase in personal bankruptcy filings in our nation is not proof that our bankruptcy laws need reform . 
it is , instead , proof that our economic policies need reform -- and need reform urgently . 
this bill only serves to disadvantage those honest americans struggling to make ends meet . 
i urge my colleagues to oppose s. 256 . 
