Dick Durbin: “That is exactly right. I would say to the Senator from Nevada, it is true the medical profession feels very strongly on…”

“That is exactly right. I would say to the Senator from Nevada, it is true the medical profession feels very strongly on one side and the trial bar on the other. But what I have tried to do is gather information from those who have no axe to grind, people who are trying to analyze this problem honestly. The conclusions they have reached suggest to me this is a much more complex problem than what we see today. Unfortunately, S. 11 I think is a political answer to a much more serious problem. If this is a question about whether the White House is going to take on the trial bar in some sort of confrontation for the next election, that is one thing. It is an interesting political battle. It is not going to solve the problem, not in my State or any other State. We have to deal with it honestly by saying the medical profession, the insurance industry, as well as the legal profession have to come to the table. We need to have not only committee hearings so we can see publicly what this issue is all about, but we need to have a good-faith effort. We can do it. I think the Senator from Nevada recalls after 9/11 we had a problem with terrorism, of course, and the threat of terrorism. That had an impact on the construction industry and on investment. So people came to us and said: We can't get people to invest in building new buildings unless we do something about terrorism insurance. We sat down on a bipartisan basis and worked it out.”