Non-business bankruptcy filings in the United States quintupled during the 1980s and 1990s, to over 1.5 million annually by 2004 from 300,000 in 1980. To address the problem of soaring bankruptcy filings during this period of unprecedented prosperity, two years ago Congress enacted comprehensive, bipartisan bankruptcy reform legislation.

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 tightened bankruptcy laws to weed out chronic problems of fraud and abuse -- and to restore public confidence in the integrity...