today I have notified the minority leader that I have placed a hold on H.R. 2260, the Pain Relief Promotion Act of 1999. This legislation would negate Oregon's physician assisted suicide law which was debated and passed twice by the voters…

I come to the floor because last fall I indicated that I would come to the floor of the Senate again and again until this body passed bipartisan legislation to make sure the Nation's older people secure prescription drug coverage under…

this is the ninth time I have come to the floor of the Senate to talk about the issue of Medicare coverage for prescription drugs. As the Senate can see, I am urging seniors to send in copies of their prescription drug bills, as this…

The reality is that nothing important in the Congress gets done unless it is bipartisan. It is just that simple. What Senator Snowe and I have said repeatedly is that we want to get beyond some of the squabbling that goes on in Washington…

We know new prescriptions are right on the forefront of preventive medicine. What is exciting about the new medicines is they help to lower blood pressure and they can be helpful in dealing with a wide variety of health concerns, including…

Again with respect to these voluntary pledges that have been made by the airline industry, I think it is worth noting exactly what the General Accounting Office said about this so-called customer service first program. The General…

this amendment I also offer with the bipartisan leadership of the subcommittee, Chairman Shelby and Senator Lautenberg. Again, I express my thanks to both of them. As you could tell from Senator Lautenberg's excellent statement, he has…

first I express my thanks to the bipartisan leadership of the committee, Chairman Shelby, who has been extraordinarily helpful on this matter, which is a critical issue of protecting the rights of airline passengers in this country, and I…

What Senator Bryan, Senator Fitzgerald, and I are trying to do is build on the work done by both of our colleagues. For example, I think Senator Gorton and Senator Craig are absolutely right in terms of saying that the Forest Service has…

it is a great honor to be on the floor today to express my special appreciation at being able to work with Senator McCain, Senator Dodd, and so many of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle on this important legislation. This bill is…

I came over to the floor because I am in sympathy with what the Senator from California is trying to do. But this bill has taken such a pasting in the last 15 or 20 minutes that I am going to take a couple of minutes to correct the Record…

Let's say that Mabel's restaurant buys $10,000 worth of computers from the Jones Company and they crash on January 3 of next year. Mabel's restaurant loses a million dollars' worth of business as a result. Mabel writes to Jones Computer…

If the Senator can show me something in those 2 rac{1}{2} pages that indicates that a plaintiff could not recover through their State contract law economic losses, I guarantee myself, Senator Dodd, and Senator McCain are interested in…

We apply State contract law to these economic losses. What we say is, you get your economic loss under current law if your State law lets you. The Senator from Massachusetts is absolutely right. There is a sincere difference of opinion…

I believe that using language that vague virtually ensures that a significant number of frivolous cases are going to end up going to juries--exactly what we fear. What will happen, companies will attempt to defend themselves, the judge…

I come today to say we know we are going to have problems early in the next century. That has been documented on a bipartisan basis by the Y2K committee. What we are concerned about is not compounding the problem with frivolous lawsuits…

It seems to me that on the basis of everything we have gone through in terms of the committee, there is a reason that the high-tech community is overwhelmingly opposed to the Kerry amendment. As far as I can tell, the reason they are is…

I am saying that our proposal protects State contract law with respect to economic losses. It seems to me that the gentleman's proposal, in wanting to change existing State contract law, is clearly moving us in a different area which legal…

It is just a couple of hundred days to the new millennium. It seems to this Member of the Senate that how this body handles this legislation will say a great deal about our Nation's ability to keep our strong technology-oriented economy…

I think what the chairman of the Commerce Committee is suggesting is a practical way to get at it. This Member of the Senate believes, with all due respect to my friend from Massachusetts, that the Kerry amendment would be a lightning rod…

Will the chairman yield? Mr. McCAIN. If I could respond very quickly about one aspect of this, I have confessed with great pride and sometimes with pleasure that I am not a member of the legal profession. But I am afraid the Senator from…

We essentially say that State contract law will govern in these jurisdictions. The Senator from Massachusetts believes in a variety of instances that there should be other remedies. He is creating other remedies during this 36-month period…

if I can reclaim my time, there is a difference of opinion here on the matter of economic losses. In the 22 pages the Senator from North Carolina has cited, we believe every plaintiff is going to be able to recover exactly what they are…

No. Not at all. In fact, let me again read from our legal analysis: The economic loss rule is a widely recognized legal principle that has been adopted by the United States Supreme Court in the vast majority of States. It states a party…

on this point, Senator Edwards is such a magnificent lawyer and I am always reluctant to get into this, but the bottom line in this matter of economic losses is, whatever the plaintiff is entitled to get under State contract law with…