Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 1033, the Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act. Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by echoing the praise that the chairman offered to Mr. Collins and Mr. Cohen for their leadership on this important legislation which I support for several reasons. To begin with, it strengthens the Equal Access to Justice Act, a crucial law that has helped senior citizens, veterans, the disabled, and not-for-profit groups vindicate their rights against unreasonable or arbitrary governmental action. Now, as the chairman stated, under the so-called American rule, parties to adjudicative matters typically pay their own litigation costs, subject to certain statutory exceptions; and one of these exceptions is the Equal Access to Justice Act, which allows a party to be reimbursed for litigation costs when he or she is victorious against the Federal Government under specified conditions. But if the U.S. can show that its position was substantially justified, or that special circumstances would make an award unjust, then the prevailing party is not entitled to be reimbursed for his or her litigation costs. In addition, only certain parties are eligible to be reimbursed for their litigation costs under the act, based on their net worth or tax exempt status, among other factors that are built in to the statute.…”