mr. speaker , i rise to oppose this legislation . 
after 4 years of record deficits and $ 2 trillion in new debt , one would think that the republican majority would have a better understanding of what bankruptcy is . 
they are lucky this law does not apply to their actions in the last 4 years . 
instead , we have a bill that promotes one bankruptcy code for the wealthy and another for the middle class . 
case in point : the bill preserves the `` millionaires loophole , '' used by the wealthy to hide up to $ 1 million from creditors and courts into offshore accounts known as asset protection . 
everyone should be subject to the same law and the same standards , not one set of rules for the wealthy and one for middle-class families . 
if one can afford a high-priced lawyer to set up an asset protection trust , they are a lot better off in bankruptcy than a middle-class family struggling to pay off large hospital bills . 
more than half of all bankruptcies result from catastrophic medical bills . 
mr. speaker , rather than deal with the health care crisis or making college affordable , this legislation protects wealthy deadbeats from the same standard imposed upon every middle-class american . 
we should have one rule , one standard in the law of bankruptcy law that applies to every american regardless of income and regardless of wealth or position . 
