Larry Pressler: “this should be a great day. It should be a great day for small business. It should be a great day for employees of those…”

“this should be a great day. It should be a great day for small business. It should be a great day for employees of those businesses. It should be a great day for consumers. It should be a great day for those unfortunate enough to be injured by defective products. As chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation I am extremely pleased and proud to see the Senate take up consideration of the conference report to H.R. 965, the Commonsense Product Liability Legal Reform Act of 1996. This is historic. Never in almost two decades of work have we gotten this far. I am deeply saddened, however, by the President's announced intention to veto this important legislation. I am also quite puzzled. You see, as Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton in August 1991, sat on the committee that drafted and unanimously approved the National Governors Association's [NGA] first resolution supporting product liability reform. Governor Clinton also went on record in support of the second resolution favoring product liability reform passed by the NGA. Mr. President, America is plagued by frivolous lawsuits. Every day, our economy is victimized by ridiculous damage awards, both real and threatened. This conference agreement represents a substantial reform of the legal system that allows this abuse. It is tragic some have allowed this effort to formulate meaningful policy to be overtaken by political posturing. It is election year politics at its worst.…”