[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 24 (Friday, February 6, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S1861]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       MEDICAL DEVICE SAFETY ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senator Kennedy once 
again in the introduction of this important legislation. The bill that 
we introduce today will correct the Supreme Court's decision in Riegel 
v. Medtronic, which misconstrued the intent of Congress and cut off 
access to our Nation's courts for citizens injured or killed by 
defective medical devices.
  Last year, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a series of hearings 
to examine the way in which the Supreme Court's decisions in the areas 
of retirement benefits, consumer product safety, workplace 
discrimination, and personal finance have consistently trended against 
the rights of consumers and in favor of big business. In many cases 
that have profound effects on the lives of ordinary Americans, the 
Court has either ignored the intent of Congress, deferred to corporate 
interests, or sided with a Federal agency's flawed interpretation of a 
congressional statute's preemptive force to disadvantage consumers. The 
impact of the decisions that were the focus of those hearings continue 
to be felt by Americans today, whether they are prohibited from seeking 
redress in the courts for an injury caused by a defective product, 
paying exorbitant credit card interest rates and fees with no relief 
from the laws of their own state, or subjected to the unscrupulous 
practices of some in the mortgage lending industry.
  These hearings raised awareness in Congress, and among Americans, 
about the impact the Supreme Court has on our everyday lives. I am 
especially proud that following on these hearings, and through the 
efforts of a determined and principled congressional majority, we 
witnessed our constitutional democracy at work when President Obama 
signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. And I am heartened that 
Congress reclaimed the intent of its original legislation and overrode 
the Supreme Court to restore the rights of Americans to be free from 
discrimination in the workplace.
  The bill we introduce today is another important step to correct an 
erroneous reading by the Court of Congress' intent in enacting the 
medical device amendments of 1976. This legislation will make explicit 
that the preemption clause in the medical device amendments upon which 
the Court relied does not, and never was intended to, preempt the 
common law claims of consumers injured by a federally approved medical 
device.
  The extraordinary power to preempt State law and regulation lies with 
Congress alone. Where the Court reaches to the extent it did in the 
Riegel decision to find Federal preemption contrary to what Congress 
intended, Congress is compelled to act, just as it was in the case of 
Lilly Ledbetter. I hope all Senators will join us in this effort.

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