Political Quotes

“Senator Rockefeller, I am sure, has endeavored to live up to his commitments to not expand the conference report, to the best of his knowledge, but being a nonlawyer, I am afraid some of his advisers who are writing it did not explain to him the vast expansion of this report over what the Senate passed before. There are numerous changes, subtle changes in many instances--for example, the changing of the word ``and'' to ``or,'' which greatly expanded the bill. The proponents are referring to the various special interests who have concerns about this legislation. You know to whom they are referring--trial lawyers and advocates on behalf of the American consumer. But there are a lot of other special interests that are involved, particularly those who have been endeavoring to save money and to make a bigger profit. In that category could be many elements of business from manufacturers to wholesalers, distributors, retail sellers and also including the insurance industry. These can certainly be called special interests. This report's section on punitive damages has, with regard to small businesses, a provision about ``the lesser amount'' and therefore providing a maximum cap on punitive damages of $250,000 if a business has less than 25 employees. I doubt if there is any company that has 25 employees that does not carry substantial excess liability insurance over and above $250,000.”