mr. speaker , this is a great day . 
not only are we going to be able to see the nationals play the first home game in 34 years , but we are going to finally pass bankruptcy reform legislation that can get to the president 's desk and be signed . 
also , tomorrow many of us are going to be paying our taxes . 
we have constituents who are complaining justifiably about the high cost of gasoline . 
on average , passage of this legislation will save a family of four $ 400 a year , and $ 400 a year is a very important amount of money for an awful lot of people in this country , and that is the price that they are paying because of the abuse that we have seen of our bankruptcy law that has been going on for years and years and years . 
i happen to believe that it is essential that we provide that $ 400 in relief to the american people just as quickly as we can . 
we know , as the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner ) xz4003650 has said , and i congratulate the gentleman for all of the effort that he has put into this , that we for years and years and years have been going through the amendment process . 
we have had a wide range of concerns brought to the forefront , and we have been able to address them . 
i believe that we are doing the right thing by moving ahead with this measure . 
mr. speaker , any member who votes no on this rule is voting against bankruptcy reform . 
they are voting against bankruptcy reform . 
why ? 
because it is true 35 amendments were submitted to us in the committee on rules . 
we made it very clear that one of the things that we offered when we came to majority status was the chance to give the minority an opportunity to offer a substitute . 
the gentleman from wisconsin ( chairman sensenbrenner ) came before the committee on rules and made it very clear to us . 
he requested a closed or a modified closed rule . 
let me say , a modified closed rule means that the minority is offered a chance at providing a substitute , cobbling together a package that in fact is an alternative to the measure that we have brought forward . 
the minority had an opportunity to do that . 
what did they choose to do ? 
members of the minority did not come forward with a substitute . 
they chose to offer what i describe as cut-and-bite amendments , going through these issues and amending and amending and amending . 
mr. speaker , we would have made in order a substitute had they given it to us . 
