Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, this is not an argument on the validity of the death penalty. It is simply setting a cap on what is, I am embarrassed myself as an attorney to stand up and tell the American public we are paying people in Tennessee at least $250 an hour, which I do not know of a single lawyer in Tennessee that makes that much outside of this range. We are simply saying that these attorneys are entitled to fair compensation. The figure that I choose, leaving discretion to the judge to award anywhere from $75 an hour to $125 an hour, which I think will hire a good, competent attorney anywhere in this United States, within that range, which is the range actually suggested by the courts' own guide to judiciary policy and procedures. So this is nothing unusual. This is a range they are comfortable with, and I think we need to cap that, again. To allow judges that unfettered discretion to come in and award in cases up to $250,000, when we multiply the rate times $250 an hour, is certainly an embarrassment to me as an attorney. What we are doing is taking here reasonable, not draconian steps, but reasonable steps; $125 an hour is again very appropriate in certain areas of this country. We do not violate anyone's rights here. It is common sense, reasonable legislation. I would urge my colleagues to close this loophole and vote for this very good amendment.”