Sensitive James Sensenbrenner

No one will ever call him that, for sure:

The chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee said on Tuesday he had no intention of reopening a sweeping bankruptcy law passed by Congress earlier this year, despite proposals to exempt Hurricane Katrina victims from some of its provisions.

The new, more stringent bankruptcy law will not harm people left "down and out" by the storm, Wisconsin Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner said.

He said he would not hold a hearing in his committee on a bill by the panel's ranking Democrat, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, and 31 other Democrats who want to exempt Hurricane Katrina victims from parts of the new bankruptcy law. A chairman's decision not to hold a hearing usually prevents a House bill form advancing.

Sensenbrenner argues that those affected by the hurricane won't reach the 40% threshold established by the new bill and therefore will allow those who lost everything to file Chapter 7 anyway.

Which is awesome if there weren't future ramifications for filing Chapter 7. But there is. It makes it harder to get credit cards and home loans at a reasonable rate. It negatively affects credit score. It will, in fact, cause further undue financial hardship on people who lost everything in this storm.

But what does James Sensenbrenner care? He's not affected by the storm, and I doubt he's hurting for money any time soon. So let all those who made timely payments now suffer under the black thumb of bankruptcy for the next seven years because their home, their assets, and their job have been wiped out by an act of nature.

sensitive James Sensenbrenner is not.