[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 180 (Wednesday, November 1, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1036]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING THE RIGHTS OF AMERICANS EXPOSED TO TOXIC WATER AT CAMP 
                                LEJEUNE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MATT CARTWRIGHT

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 1, 2023

  Mr. CARTWRIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, along with my colleague, 
Rep. Gregory Murphy, to speak on behalf of all those Americans who were 
exposed to the toxic water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. When 
writing the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, we understood that the only way 
the veterans, their families and others could get fair and just 
compensation was through a jury trial. Let there be no ambiguity. Let 
this be understood to be our unequivocal expression our intent, from 
the inception of the bill through final passage and into enactment: the 
claimants who have suffered so intensely as a result of the toxic water 
at Camp Lejeune have the right to a trial by jury.
  We were aware of how the Federal Tort Claims Act worked, through a 
bench trial, and we specifically rejected that model when we wrote the 
Act. Indeed, it has always been our intent for the Act to stand 
separate and apart from the Federal Tort Claims Act in all respects. 
For these reasons, we expressly included a provision in subsection (d) 
of the Act confirming every plaintiffs right to a jury trial. The 
Department of Justice is inexplicably reading this provision out of the 
statute.
  Specifically, the United States Department of Justice has recently 
filed a Motion in the Camp Lejeune Water Litigation proceeding pending 
before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of 
North Carolina in which the Department asserts that those harmed by the 
toxic water at Camp Lejeune between 1953 and 1987 are not entitled to a 
jury trial. This argument is inexplicable.
  We fundamentally disagree with the Department's position. When we 
drafted the Act, it was our clear, unambiguous, and unequivocal express 
intent to provide all those covered by the Act with the right to a 
trial by jury against the United States of America for the harm they 
suffered at Camp Lejeune. We thought it was critically important that 
people who had been betrayed and misled by the government for decades 
would have a right to have their claims decided by a jury of their 
peers.
  We want to cite the law as written in ``Public Law 177-168 Section 
804. Federal Cause of Action Relating to Water at Camp Lejeune, North 
Carolina subsection (d) Exclusive Jurisdiction and Venue--The United 
States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina shall 
have exclusive jurisdiction over any action filed under subsection (b), 
and shall be the exclusive venue for such action. Nothing in this 
subsection shall impair the right of any party to a trial by jury.''
  We want to take this opportunity to again restate what we have always 
intended and what is clearly written in Public Law 177-168. We are 
dismayed that the Department of Justice has taken this wrongheaded 
position, which flies in the face of everything Congress intended for 
those harmed by the toxic water at Camp Lejeune. Those who have 
steadfastly defended our country rate no less than the rights they 
deserve as American citizens.

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