John B. Breaux: “I will take a few moments to explain my position on this important legislative effort and point to the fact that I have…”

“I will take a few moments to explain my position on this important legislative effort and point to the fact that I have worked on a substitute amendment that has the ability to bring both sides together in a way we have not yet achieved. It is clear that in all difficult legislative areas, when you have a very closely divided Senate, the only way we will actually get legislation adopted and passed and sent to the President for his signature is if we aggressively work together to limit our differences and maximize the things we have in common in order to produce a legislative package that can sustain the rules of the Senate and allow a bill to actually pass and become law. There is room for reform in class action litigation. I do not think it is as bad as some portray the situation to be, but it is probably a problem that does need to be addressed. For those who think we should do nothing in this area, I would say there are some things we can do that improve the situation and, most importantly, get us a product that can actually become law.”