Blake Farenthold: “I want to address the fact that there have been numerous hearings on the FACT Act and the problems associated with it.…”

“I want to address the fact that there have been numerous hearings on the FACT Act and the problems associated with it. There was one hearing before the Judiciary Committee on the Constitution on September 9, 2011. There were three legislative hearings before the Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law, one during the 112th Congress, one during the 113th Congress, and one during the 114th Congress. I am sure the gentleman's staff could have gotten him copies of those. I also point out that the minority used these opportunities to call witnesses that were representatives of the plaintiffs' asbestos trial bar. They called the attorneys to voice their concern about the bill, not the victims. In fact, the minority called the same witness for three out of the four hearings. Now they claim that asbestos victims were never provided an opportunity to testify. The Judiciary Committee has provided ample opportunity to include asbestos victims' views on the legislation in the record, and there are many letters and statements from victims in the record. In closing, I do want to say--going back to the class action part of this bill for a second only--that only the tiniest fraction of consumers in class actions bother to claim the compensation awarded them in the settlement.…”