Tom Carper: “I thank Senator Specter for yielding to me. I say to my friend and colleague from Arkansas, he knows how fond I am of…”

“I thank Senator Specter for yielding to me. I say to my friend and colleague from Arkansas, he knows how fond I am of him and how highly I regard him, both in his previous role as attorney general and as a colleague in the Senate. When I heard of the amendment he was preparing to offer, I stopped and I said to my staff, let's find out if this is something I can support. As many of my colleagues know, we have endeavored to improve this bill over time, and the legislation before us today is a far different bill than was first proposed 7 years ago or even was debated 2 years ago and reported out of committee. Senator Specter has spoken of the option that is available to most attorneys general, an approach called parens patriae, which I understand means 'government stands in the place of the citizen.' For most attorneys general who wish to file a case on behalf of their citizens against some defendant, they have the opportunity to use parens patriae. For those who do not, in my judgment, they still have the opportunity to use the class action lawsuit. What we have sought to do over the last couple of years in modifying this bill is to make sure that the class action lawsuits brought by an individual in a State, if they are of a national scope, they would be in a Federal court.”