mr. speaker , i do not support this bill in its present form -- and , since the republican leadership has made it impossible for the house to even consider any amendment , i have no choice but to vote against it . 
in recent years , colorado has been one of the states with the greatest increase in bankruptcy filings . 
opinions vary about the causes , but this fact does suggest a need to consider whether the current bankruptcy laws should be revised . 
so , i am not opposed to any change in the current bankruptcy laws , and in fact i think some of the bill 's provisions would make reasonable adjustments in those laws . 
but this legislation was first developed years ago and neither its supporters nor the leadership have been willing to give any real consideration to adjusting it to better reflect current conditions . 
in particular , i think that the bill should have been amended to more appropriately address the financial problems being encountered by some members of the regular armed services as well as by members of the national guard who have been called to active duty in iraq or elsewhere . 
if the motion to recommit had prevailed , the bill would have been amended to exempt from the means test at least those national guard and reservists whose debt resulted from active duty service or was incurred 2 years of returning home from their service . 
unfortunately , the motion was not adopted . 
for me , this is a very serious matter and the lack of such an amendment is one of the main reasons i can not support the bill . 
under these circumstances , i am not persuaded that the bill now before us is the right prescription for colorado or our country . 
i think it still needs work -- and because of both its shortcomings and the refusal of the leadership to permit consideration of any changes , i can not support it . 
