Roy Blunt: “I oppose the substitute and support the bill. I want to express my appreciation to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr.…”

“I oppose the substitute and support the bill. I want to express my appreciation to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) and his committee and all the Members, in fact, who have been willing to take on this tough fight, but particularly to the chairman for working hard to find a way to get this bill on the floor and to the President this early in this Congress. Frivolous lawsuits are clogging America's judicial system, endangering America's small businesses, jeopardizing jobs, and driving up prices for consumers. The bill we are debating today will reduce these junk lawsuits through tougher sanctions and increased commonsense protections. The past few years have witnessed an explosion of interstate class actions being filed in State courts, particularly in certain magnet jurisdictions. These magnet courts are filled with class action abuses. They routinely approve settlements in which the lawyers receive large fees and the class members receive virtually nothing. The Class Action Fairness Act is a commonsense bipartisan plan that addresses this serious problem by allowing larger interstate class action cases, cases that truly do involve multiple States, to be filed in Federal court.”