Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer a commonsense amendment that will prevent the abuse of Justice Department settlements to line the pockets of environmental lawyers. The Gosar amendment caps settlement payments for attorneys' fees provided in relation to environmental cases at $125 per hour. The Equal Access to Justice Act, EAJA, already contains a fee cap of $125 per hour for attorney fees. Unfortunately, EAJA also contains a loophole that allows specialized attorneys to violate that cap without explicitly defining who meets this standard. The result has been the rampant abuse of this loophole by environmental groups who routinely argue that their lawyers are specialized and can therefore violate the cap. Furthermore, the Endangered Species Act does not contain this cap. As a report by the Congressional Working Group on the Endangered Species Act explains: ``The effect is large, deep-pocketed environmental groups with annual revenues well over $100 million are reaping taxpayer reimbursements from a law intended for the `little guy.' ``These groups--and their lawyers--are making millions of taxpayer dollars by suing the Federal Government, being deemed the `prevailing party' by Federal courts, and being awarded fees either through settlement with DOJ or by courts.…”