Grassley began work on the legislation in 1998. The House and Senate passed similar bankruptcy reform bills last year. Conferees were close to agreement over many months on most every issue. The final issues to be resolved had been on the homestead exemption and abortion clinic violence.
The House of Representatives could vote on the agreement as early as tomorrow. The Senate could vote next week before leaving for the August recess.
Here is a comment from Sen. Grassley:
"This bill is an example of how perseverance pays off. It's been five years in the making. We just finished an historic third conference on a major piece of legislation that has many times won overwhelming approval from lawmakers. Final agreement and presidential support has proven elusive until now. But at long last, we'll be able to close loopholes exploited by big spenders who have the ability to repay their debts and better protect consumers who have been left to pay higher prices for goods and services as a result.
"We've been very close to an agreement in this Congress since the House and Senate acted early last year. Tonight we were able to finally rework language on the dischargeability of debts arising from attacks against abortion clinics and reach final agreement."