540
Opinion of the Court
(1994) (setting out amendment 1645 to S. 540). Amendment 1645 made only two changes to § 330(a)(1): It deleted the Government's right to object provision and the critical words ("or the debtors [sic] attorney"). The rest of the original proposed draft remained intact. Legislative history explains the first deletion, for the provision was installed elsewhere, as new § 330(a)(2). Nothing, however, explains the second. That the Government's right to object was deleted and reinstated (i. e., reorganized), while the words at issue, which had preceded the moved provision, were deleted with no notation in the legislative history suggests the scrivener just reached too far in his deletion. These factors combined to convince a leading treatise on bankruptcy law, Collier, that the deletion was a scrivener's error and ought not have any effect. See 3 Collier on Bankruptcy ¶ 330.LH[5], at 330-75 to 330-76.
There are other aspects of the legislative record, however, that undermine this interpretation. These considerations suggest Congress may have intended the change the scrivener worked. For example, amendment 1645 was part of a reform Act designed to curtail abuses in fee awards, according to statements by the amendment's sponsor. See 140 Cong. Rec., at 28753 (statement of Sen. Metzenbaum). These abuses were not ghosts seen only by Congress. Some bankruptcy courts had reached the same conclusion. See, e. g., In re NRG Resources, Inc., 64 B. R. 643 (Bkrtcy. Ct. WD La. 1986). The deletion at issue furthered this reform by ensuring that Chapter 7 debtors' attorneys would receive no estate compensation absent the trustee's authorization of their work. This objective is not inconsistent with the interest of involving debtors' attorneys in bankruptcy proceedings. As noted, the Act still allows debtors' attorneys to be compensated in different ways. See supra, at 536-539.
Amendment 1645, viewed in its entirety, gives further reason to think Congress may have intended the change. The amendment added a new section that authorizes fee awards
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