[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 18853-18854]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          TERRORISM INSURANCE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, every morning I get up and I read the local 
paper, the Washington Post. There is always breaking news in the 
newspaper, of course. I try to go to the sports page first because 
there is always some good news there, at least. I was terribly 
disappointed today in looking at the front section of the Washington 
Post. There is an ad here. If this ad were a product and not an issue, 
there would certainly be some type of legal action for false 
advertising.
  I just am so disappointed in the Business Roundtable and American 
Insurance Association. I am not disappointed in the Chamber of Commerce 
because they have never done anything my entire political career to 
make me feel good in the first place, so this just adds to what they 
normally do. But I personally have worked on terrorism insurance for a 
year now. To have them, the Business Roundtable and the American 
Insurance Association, run an ad blaming the Democrats for not having 
terrorism insurance is despicable. They should be ashamed of 
themselves. They know it is a lie, a falsehood, a travesty. President 
Bush gave this speech, and he is quoted here in Pennsylvania with a 
bunch of labor people, saying:

       We need an insurance bill to cover potential terrorist 
     acts, so that hard hats in America can get back to work. And 
     I want a bill on my desk that says we care more about working 
     people and less about trial lawyers.

  That is wrong. If the Federal Election Commission did what they 
should do, they should charge this as a contribution in kind for the 
Bush reelection campaign. Blaming the trial bar is something that goes 
back to biblical times, Shakespearean times. When things don't go 
right, blame the lawyers.
  The chronology of delay over this important legislation is well 
documented. That is why I am so terribly disappointed. The people who 
make up this Business Roundtable are from hotels, some of whom are in 
Nevada, and all over this country. They know this is a lie. I cannot 
say it any other way. It is a lie. It is false advertising.
  I know the chronology. I was here trying to move this legislation 
forward. We asked, on many occasions, unanimous consent to go to the 
legislation. Finally, after months--not days or weeks but months--we 
got to go to the bill. Then the delay was in full view to everyone. 
After weeks, we forced legislation out here. We, the Democrats, tried 
to get it on the floor. We finally got it on the floor. This was 
bipartisan. Some Republicans, after it got to the floor, helped us. But 
they held it up; we did not hold it up. After it passed, with lots of 
procedural delays and efforts to slow it down, we thought, oh, boy, it 
is over with. Everybody wants it going to conference. But, oh, no. It 
took months to get a conference. They would not agree to the 
appointment of conferees. You know, there were a few problems. Senator 
Daschle said we will have three Democrats and two Republicans. After 
all, we are in the majority. No, they don't want that. We are in charge 
of the Senate. That is a prerogative we have. After months, Senator 
Daschle said, OK, I will make it 4 to 3. They still did not agree to 
it. We gave them what they wanted and they still didn't agree because 
it was all a big stall.
  Now, finally, they agreed to a conference, but nothing happened in 
conference. Months have gone by. I hear on the floor: Please do 
something. I have a staff person assigned--not full-time but he spends 
a great deal of time on this legislation. Senator Daschle has someone 
who spends the same amount of time on this piece of legislation.
  Meetings have been held. The person Senator Daschle has working is an 
outstanding lawyer. He was in the counsel's office in the White House. 
He was the one who did all the judges for us. He is someone who knows 
what is going on.
  We have made presentation after presentation to no avail. Senator 
Dodd has spent weeks of his time on this issue. This is not a tort 
reform issue. It is an issue to allow insurance companies to sell 
terrorism insurance to allow construction projects to go forward in Las 
Vegas and other places in the country.
  The insurance companies, as they are good at doing, have jacked up 
the prices so it is hard to get insurance. This legislation is an 
effort to allow them to receive some help if, in fact, there is an act 
of terrorism.
  My office spoke with people when they complained about this: We had 
tremendous pressure from the White House to sign on to this 
advertisement. What is this all about, pressure to sign on to something 
that is false, misleading, untrue?
  When President George Bush was campaigning, he said he was going to 
change the tone in Washington. I have been in Washington a long time 
now. I have never seen the tone this way. During the Reagan years, 
there were some disagreements, but what a fine person to get along 
with. He and his people were easy to get along with. Here we cannot get 
along--it is very tough. The atmosphere is extremely difficult. Change 
the tone? He has changed the tone, there is no question about that, but 
it is for the worse. I guess he just did not complete his sentence in 
all the debates and other statements he made. This is a very venomous 
environment.
  Legislation is the art of compromise. I personally do not think this 
legislation dealing with terrorism insurance should have anything to do 
with tort reform, but they have forced the issue. The compromise has 
some tort reform in it. Legislation is a compromise. The White House 
has been unwilling to compromise, unwilling to meet. They are now 
putting pressure on lobbyists to fund full-page ads, pro-Bush ads in 
the Post and more pressure on congressional Republicans to do anything 
they can to stop this legislation.
  I know, I have had friends on the other side tell me they do not want 
this legislation; they do not think it is necessary. But why not do it 
like adults? Stand up and say this is bad legislation, not have this 
charade.
  If anyone is truly interested in the real White House strategy, read 
the story in the New York Times today about this legislation:

       Mr. Bush's push for the measure reflects a no-lose 
     political strategy. If Congress reaches an agreement on the 
     measure, he can rightly claim credit for it. If it fails, he 
     can blame Congressional Democrats, and in particular the 
     Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, for the failure.

  That is what it is all about. I believe people of the State of Nevada 
deserve more; the people of this country deserve more. I have no 
problem when there are honest disagreements on legislation, but I have 
been on the ground, so to speak. I have watched this; I have been right 
here; I have been making the unanimous consent requests. Over the 
month, I bet I have offered 25 unanimous consent requests right from

[[Page 18854]]

here. There were objections to appointment of conferees and getting the 
bill to the floor. But to have this:

       We agree, Mr. President, there's too much at stake. . . .
       Congress, why the delay?
       The time is now. Pass Terrorism Insurance Legislation.

  Six months ago, the President in 30 seconds could have had the 
legislation on his desk, but this has been a big stall to make the 
trial lawyers look like the enemy of the American people, and that 
simply is wrong.

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