[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 149 (Wednesday, October 3, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S12692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        PROCEDURAL FAIRNESS FOR SEPTEMBER 11 VICTIMS ACT OF 2007

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary 
Committee be discharged from consideration of S. 2106, and that the 
Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2106) to provide nationwide subpoena authority 
     for actions brought under the September 11 Victim 
     Compensation Fund of 2001.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, 6 years ago, just days after the terrorist 
attacks of September 11, Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle 
came together to pass comprehensive legislation entitled ``the Air 
Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act,'' which provided 
victims of the terrorist attack the option of filing a claim with a 
national compensation program or seeking limited damages in one Federal 
district court--the United States District Court for the Southern 
District of New York.
  This Federal cause of action was designed to give victims and their 
families a choice in the aftermath of September 11. I supported giving 
the victims and their families a Federal cause of action in court to 
pursue civil damages, but it has come to my attention that an important 
procedural protection was left out of the bipartisan legislation we 
passed 6 years ago.
  The 9-11 victims' case currently being litigated in the Southern 
District of New York includes parties and witnesses from across the 
country. However, the existing Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 
restricts the reach of trial subpoenas to a 100-mile radius of the 
place of trial. This procedural rule effectively prevents subpoenas 
from being served in the very cities where the flights originated and 
where two of them crashed on the morning of September 11.
  The bipartisan solution to the problem that Congress created is the 
Procedural Fairness for September 11 Victims Act, S. 2106. It provides 
for nationwide service of subpoenas for the September 11 victims. 
Congress has repeatedly provided for nationwide subpoena power in other 
instances such as the False Claims Act, the Veterans' Benefits Act, and 
the Civil RICO statute.
  I call on my colleagues to pass this procedural fix that will allow 
the victims to have a chance to have their claims fairly and thoroughly 
heard in court. The heart of every American aches for those who died or 
were injured because of the tragic attacks in New York, Virginia, and 
Pennsylvania on September 11. Although no amount of compensation can 
replace a lost loved one, the Procedural Fairness for September 11 
Victims Act offers a technical fix that is crucial to assisting the 
September 11 victims and their families.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read a third time, passed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table; that any statements be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 2106) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time and passed, as follows:

                                S. 2106

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Procedural Fairness for 
     September 11 Victims Act of 2007''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) The September 11th Victims Compensation Fund of 2001 
     (49 U.S.C. 40101 note) establishes a Federal cause of action 
     in the United States District Court for the Southern District 
     of New York as the exclusive remedy for damages arising out 
     of the hijacking and subsequent crash of American Airlines 
     flights 11 and 77, and United Airlines flights 93 and 175, on 
     September 11, 2001.
       (2) Rules 45(b)(2) and 45(c)(3)(A)(ii) of the Federal Rules 
     of Civil Procedure effectively limit service of a subpoena to 
     any place within, or within 100 miles of, the district of the 
     court by which it is issued, unless a statute of the United 
     States expressly provides that the court, upon proper 
     application and cause shown, may authorize the service of a 
     subpoena at any other place.
       (3) Litigating a Federal cause of action under the 
     September 11 Victims Compensation Fund of 2001 is likely to 
     involve the testimony and the production of other documents 
     and tangible things by a substantial number of witnesses, 
     many of whom may not reside, be employed, or regularly 
     transact business in, or within 100 miles of, the Southern 
     District of New York.

     SEC. 3. NATIONWIDE SUBPOENAS.

       Section 408(b) of the September 11 Victims Compensation 
     Fund of 2001 (49 U.S.C. 40101 note) is amended by adding at 
     the end the following:
       ``(4) Nationwide subpoenas.--
       ``(A) In general.--A subpoena requiring the attendance of a 
     witness at trial or a hearing conducted under this section 
     may be served at any place in the United States.
       ``(B) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this subsection is 
     intended to diminish the authority of a court to quash or 
     modify a subpoena for the reasons provided in clause (i), 
     (iii), or (iv) of subparagraph (A) or subparagraph (B) of 
     rule 45(c)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.''.

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