[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18482]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              TORT REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak about tort reform, but 
before I do that I would like to use some of the comments of my 
colleague and friend who has just spoken about scientific integrity and 
maybe the creation of a climate that self-selects facts but disregards 
the scientific evidence, the active suppression of that evidence and 
questioning and removal of voices that are contrary to predetermined 
outcomes.
  I was certain that he was going to bring in CBS news and Dan Rather 
into the thing, but he stopped one step short. So I would like to add 
CBS news and Dan Rather to the list of people who preselect their 
facts, who preselect and predetermine the outcomes, and then compliment 
CBS news and Dan Rather for their pursuit of truth in front of the 
American people.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we continue to talk about on this 
House floor is the way that businesses are driven off the shores of 
America into other countries. Very often we seem to simply omit the 
discussion of tort reform and the need for tort reform and the cost to 
not only businesses but to individuals in this country for lawsuits, 
for frivolous lawsuits, litigation.
  Mr. Speaker, the U.S. Chamber ran an ad 2 years ago which described 
the cost of every car to include $500 for the cost of legal protection. 
That means that every consumer who buys a new car contributes $500 to 
the trial lawyers in this Nation. Is it any surprise then, Mr. Speaker, 
that this year the trial lawyers have contributed hundreds of millions 
of dollars into the 527s in order to buy influence and to influence the 
outcome of the elections?
  It is no surprise to me, Mr. Speaker, because we find that the trial 
lawyers right now are pulling somewhere between 2.5 to 3 percent of the 
Nation's economy. Keep in mind that we are trying at this moment to get 
a 4 percent rate of growth year after year, and we are doing that; but 
at the same time, the trial lawyers are pulling 2.5 to 3 percent of the 
economy out the bottom.
  Now, if that money were going to productivity and the hiring of 
people, that would be one thing; but what we find is that trial lawyers 
are escalating into the category of the world's richest people, not 
based on productivity, not based on what they add to the economy, but 
based on what they take out of the economy.
  This affects every single one of us when they go to get a job. We 
find that the companies pay less because of the threat of lawsuits.
  American Express told us in New York last year, a group of business 
leaders who were in the Congress, at that point that if we do not limit 
the frivolous lawsuits, if we do not limit class action lawsuits in 
this Nation, that we are going to drive out every single major 
corporation; that, in fact, within 20 years there would not be a single 
major corporation left in America.
  We have to wonder then where are we going to get our pension plans 
funded. Where are we going to have the taxes that are paid to the 
Federal Government to support our retirees? It is a huge problem, and 
yet the trial lawyers continue to buy influence at an amazing rate, and 
they buy influence in this institution.
  Here in the House, we have passed multiple forms of lawsuit abuse 
protection; but somehow, once they leave the doors of this institution, 
they simply are bottled up and kept dormant.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for the partisan politics that limit the 
debate and that limit the actions to stop the frivolous lawsuits. It is 
time for the partisan politics to stop and for us to protect the 
American consumer, for us to protect American businesses.
  At one point last year, the insurance agents' representative for the 
Nation came into my office and gave me a list of maybe 30 or 40 new 
businesses, new activities that will not be covered under insurance 
this coming year. That means that every company that does those 
activities will not function because you cannot function without 
liability insurance in this country.
  So what we are doing is we are continuing to limit the number of 
activities that we can have, jobs produced for Americans, all at the 
benefit of the trial lawyers of America.

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