Judd Gregg: “This is obviously a fairly significant piece of legislation. It has the potential to represent one of the most complex…”

“This is obviously a fairly significant piece of legislation. It has the potential to represent one of the most complex pieces of legislation ever considered by this body--at least certainly in my time in Government. It also represents, potentially, one of the largest tax increases that this Congress will consider assessing. It represents a dramatic step in a number of different areas of law in which this Congress has toyed with but has never really fully participated. I want to talk about one specific area of that issue, which is the area of granting to a manufacturer of a product in this country product liability protection, or immunity, as the term has become known. There are a lot of products made in this Nation today, a lot of products made for the purpose of improving the lives of people, a lot of products made for enjoyment, products that are made to get us through a day, and products like tobacco. Most of these products--in fact, the vast majority of these products--have no special protection should they be produced in a manner that harms someone.”