James Rogan: “I must say that I deeply regret hearing some of the characterizations of this bill and the way it has been twisted. I…”

“I must say that I deeply regret hearing some of the characterizations of this bill and the way it has been twisted. I have sat here for the last hour listening to the fact that if we give a limitation of liability on punitive damages to small businesses, that people will be killed in the streets and that greedy corporate officers will rake in millions of dollars at the expense of working people; and that just simply is not the case, Mr. Chairman. When we talk about small business protection, who are these small businesses that we are addressing and that we are trying to demonstrate some protection for in this bill? Mr. Chairman, in our country today, fully 60 percent of every business would be characterized as a small business under the definition of this bill, 24 employees or less, and more than half of those businesses, Mr. Chairman, take in less than $50,000 per year. These are not rich corporate megamerger giant businesses that this bill protects.”