Joe Lieberman: “I rise today to say a few brief words of support for the bill we are now considering, the Securities Litigation Uniform…”

“I rise today to say a few brief words of support for the bill we are now considering, the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998. I was an original co-sponsor of this important legislation. Through its passage, we in Congress can continue to send the strong message to the nation's securities markets and the country's investors that we first articulated in 1995 with the enactment of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act: we will not let frivolous lawsuits disrupt our nation's securities markets, devalue our citizens' investments or cut off the free flow of information we all need to make reasoned and well-informed investment decisions. I was a proud supporter of the 1995 Act, which restored some rationality and common sense to the laws regulating federal securities litigation. That bill set specific standards for federal private class actions alleging securities fraud, so that those deserving of compensation received it, while those seeking only to profit from the filing of an abusive suit did not. Unfortunately, in the wake of that Act, some enterprising plaintiffs' attorneys have turned to State courts to file abusive suits.”