The New York Times:

Senate leaders are expected to delay a final vote on a bill to overhaul the nation's bankruptcy rules until at least September, Congressional officials said today.

The move raised new concern among the bill's supporters that anti-abortion activists will now have weeks to plot strategy to defeat a bill that otherwise enjoys broad bipartisan support and has been the focus of years of lobbying by the credit card industry and the nation's banks. ...

The latest developments have alarmed lobbyists for the financial services industry, ardent supporters of the bill, who have never been so close to victory in their in their long campaign to win Congressional approval for an overhaul of the bankruptcy system — one making it harder for people to escape their debts. The bill would require many people entering bankruptcy court to pay back at least a portion of their credit-card loans and other unsecured debts.

Personal bankruptcy is good for our souls, our character, our freedoms, and our economy. We all need hope. Especially when things go tragically wrong. Bankruptcy's protections promise freedom after enduring pain, redemption after repayment. Without bankruptcy, bad cirumstances or bad judgement can condemn families to lifetimes of poverty and indentured servitude.

Bankruptcy also lets small business leaders to take risks, knowing their families will not suffer forever for a needed business failure.

Rolling back bankruptcy is unAmerican, bad public policy, short sighted, and bad business. No one wants to file for bankruptcy. We don't need to make it harder or worse. Let's preserve this part of our social safety net.

[aka public policy]