Henry Waxman: “I really cannot believe this. Yesterday, the Republicans were forced, kicking and screaming, to vote for legislation on…”

“I really cannot believe this. Yesterday, the Republicans were forced, kicking and screaming, to vote for legislation on corporate responsibility and today, they are proposing legislation that would give a green light to corporate irresponsibility. Now, do you remember when they passed under the Contract for America the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act? It said to accountants, they did not have to be responsible anymore, they could not be sued. So what happened? We got Enron. We got all of these scandals. This bill exempts from liability a company that would make a defective smallpox vaccine. It would exempt from liability a seller of what was supposed to be antiterrorism technology that did not work. They would allow people who are supposed to be doing the work of protecting the people and who are negligent in doing it not to even be held responsible. Even worse, if somebody was grossly negligent and acted intentionally, they would still not be held liable. Let me give another example. A company that is supposed to screen for our protection at an airport can hire a known felon and maybe someone that if they had checked and used reasonable due care could have found out that person was a terrorist, and they would hire them and a terrible tragedy could occur, but the company would not be responsible. They are not held to legal liability because they are given this exemption from any legal liability under the Armey proposal.”