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UNION BANK v. WOLAS Opinion of the Court

1984 amendment to redress particular problems of specific short-term creditors, it remains true that Congress redressed those problems by entirely deleting the time limitation in § 547(c)(2). The fact that Congress may not have foreseen all of the consequences of a statutory enactment is not a sufficient reason for refusing to give effect to its plain meaning. Toibb v. Radloff, 501 U. S. 157, 164 (1991). Respondent also relies on the history of voidable preferences prior to the enactment of the 1978 Bankruptcy Code. The text of the preference provision in the earlier Bankruptcy Act did not specifically include an exception for payments made in the ordinary course of business.12 The courts had, however, developed what is sometimes described as the “current expense” rule to cover situations in which a debtor’s payments on the eve of bankruptcy did not diminish the net estate because tangible assets were obtained in exchange for the payment. See Marshall v. Florida Nat. Bank of Jacksonville, 112 F. 2d 380, 382 (CA5 1940); 3 Collier on Bankruptcy ¶ 60.23, p. 873 (14th ed. 1977). Without such an exception, trade creditors and other suppliers of necessary goods and services might have been reluctant to extend even short-term credit and might have required advance payment 12

Section 60 of the 1898 Bankruptcy Act, as amended and codified in 11 U. S. C. § 96 (1976 ed.), provided in relevant part: “(a)(1) A preference is a transfer, as defined in this title, of any of the property of a debtor to or for the benefit of a creditor for or on account of an antecedent debt, made or suffered by such debtor while insolvent and within four months before the filing by or against him of the petition initiating a proceeding under this title, the effect of which transfer will be to enable such creditor to obtain a greater percentage of his debt than some other creditor of the same class. . . . . . “(b) Any such preference may be avoided by the trustee if the creditor receiving it or to be benefited thereby or his agent acting with reference thereto has, at the time when the transfer is made, reasonable cause to believe that the debtor is insolvent. Where the preference is voidable, the trustee may recover the property. . . .”