Professor Todd Zywicki, apologist-in-chief for the bankruptcy amendments, famously testified before Congress last February that not a single word needed to be changed in the bankruptcy bill — not so much as a misplaced comma, an incorrect cross-reference, an ambiguous phrase or simply a bad idea. It was, he told Senator Feingold, all perfect. Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee had introduced an amendment to provide some protection for victims of natural disasters. She was concerned about whether people caught in, say, a hurricane could waive paperwork requirements if their documents were buried in ten feet of mud or modify income calculations so that disaster relief payments wouldn’t be counted, but her proposal was voted down on party lines. According to Professor Zywicki, the bill — without the amendment — was perfect.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1249981