[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 71 (Monday, May 17, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5419-S5420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                Y2K ACT

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, tomorrow we will be having a critical 
vote in the morning. It will be a vote on cloture to the Y2K legal 
reform bill that will be coming up. It is being subjected to a 
filibuster, unfortunately, by members of the minority. I hope that in 
the morning the agreements can be reached so that that vote will result 
in our ability to proceed with the bill and that we could make some 
progress.
  To share a few comments on it, the computer industry is critical to 
America's growth, prosperity and ability to be competitive in the world 
market. It is one of our major exports. People come here from all over 
the world to learn about computers. Our design and technology has 
created a huge number of jobs that have been very helpful to America, 
and we are exporting around the globe large product in that area, which 
helps us with our balance of payments, which is not good in general.
  In addition, and maybe even more important, high tech computer 
equipment is increasing our productivity as a nation. As a matter of 
fact, Alan Greenspan has raised the question in several moments of 
testimony I have been present to hear in the last 2 years as to how it 
is possible that we can have an increase in wages much higher than the 
increase in inflation, the cost

[[Page S5420]]

of goods and services. If salaries are going up, why isn't inflation 
going up? He has been afraid and expressed his fear that if we keep 
raising wages--and I hope we can just keep raising wages, but his 
concern was it would drive inflation. But it has not. He has speculated 
in recent speeches and testimony, and many people have expressed the 
view that this is because of the impact of high technology, the 
computers. Now, a worker can produce so much more today than he could a 
few years ago because of the benefits of this high tech ability. So it 
is a critical thing for us as a Nation.

  We want to be able to pay higher and higher wages. We want our 
productivity to continue to go up, but we don't want to create 
inflation at the same time. So this is a big deal. So we have this 
glitch, this year 2000 bug; when the numbers all become zeros out 
there, there is a concern, a very real concern, that a lot of computers 
are not going to work well, that whole systems may be in trouble--maybe 
a bank, maybe a grocery store in a checkout computer line, and things 
such as telephone systems and others could be in serious jeopardy and 
cost a lot of money. If it causes that, we have problems.
  We are a combative society. It is a good thing for us sometimes, and 
sometimes it is not so good. The recent conference of the American Bar 
Association--and I made one comment previously on this. I suggested 
this was an official position of the ABA. I didn't mean to say so, but 
I think I suggested that. There was a seminar at the American Bar 
Association, and experts expressed great concerns about the impact of 
this litigation. We have received information that 500 or more law 
firms are already preparing seminars on how to handle the flood of 
litigation that is coming. It has been estimated that the legal costs 
of Y2K lawsuits could exceed that of asbestos, breast implants and 
tobacco all combined.
  How could this be? Well, there are computer systems in every town in 
America. Every small town has them, and certainly the bigger towns have 
even bigger systems. If those systems cause a store to mess up, their 
stock inventory to mess up, or the phone system not to work, and those 
sorts of things, then we have a real problem. Somebody could file a 
lawsuit.
  Now, we have a problem with filing lots of lawsuits. Let me share 
this story with you. A number of years ago, asbestos companies 
continued to sell asbestos after they had a reasonable basis to know 
that breathing asbestos by workers could make them ill. They should not 
have done that. They should have been held liable for that. Lawsuits 
were filed. To date, 200,000 asbestos lawsuits have been concluded, 
200,000 more of them are pending, and it is estimated that maybe 
another 200,000 asbestos cases will be filed.
  But the real tragedy--and as a lawyer who loves the law, I have to 
say this is a very real tragedy--was that only 40 percent of the money 
paid out by the asbestos companies actually got to the victims. Costs 
ate up 60 percent of that. These cases took years to conclude. 
Individuals who had been victimized died before they ever got a dime. 
Sometimes even their wives died before their heirs received any 
benefits. It was not a good day for litigation in America.

  One more thing: Seventy-percent of the asbestos companies are in 
bankruptcy today.
  Don't tell me that if we unleash a flood of lawsuits in every county 
in America against the greatest, most innovative, creative industry 
this Nation has perhaps ever created, we can't damage that industry; 
indeed, we have the capacity to bankrupt. It is a threat to our 
national economic vitality, in my opinion, and we need to do something 
about it.
  Senator McCain and Senator Hatch have been working on this 
legislation. They have done everything they can to develop a bill with 
which both the Democrats and the Republicans can live. It will require 
that a computer company be given notice of the problem and have a 
chance to fix it before a lawsuit can be filed. Just give them a chance 
to fix it. They have to fix it.
  Arbitration: If there is a disagreement, there will be compensation 
for damages, but it limits punitive damages to three times the actual 
lost, or $250,000, whichever is greater.
  That is the general framework of what the bill contains--a reasonable 
attempt to get compensation and to focus on fixing the problem so that 
this country's commercial activities can continue in a very efficient 
way to put our money on fixing the problem and not on lawyers and 
lawsuits. If we fail in this, if we allow this to happen, somebody is 
going to bear the responsibility for it. Members who vote against this 
bill, who are not giving it a chance to work and are not willing to 
face up to this are going to have to bear a heavy responsibility.
  We have to have real reform, too. If it is not going to go halfway, 
we might as well not try it.
  By the way, 80 lawsuits have already been filed. We had testimony in 
the Judiciary Committee. The Senator from Missouri, who is presiding 
now, is a member of that committee. The witness liked the lawsuits. He 
won a couple of million dollars. I asked him how long it took. He said 
2 years. I don't know how he won before he ever had a Y2K problem. But 
he won. I am thinking, there were just a few lawsuits filed at that 
time. It took him 2 years. What if you have hundreds of thousands of 
lawsuits clogging the courts? How can anybody get any legitimate 
compensation? It is going to be jackpot justice. One jury is going to 
give somebody $10 million, one is going to get zero, and that is not a 
way to handle it.
  This bill for this one Y2K problem will provide a national framework, 
because this is clearly interstate commerce, in settling these matters 
and trying to give the computer industry a chance to fix the problem 
and to get our industries' computer systems working.
  I am really concerned about the vote tomorrow. It is a critical vote 
for the American economy. Those who fail to realize that could damage 
our country.
  The vote will be coming up in the morning and everybody should be 
aware of it.

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