John Cornyn: “I first want to say how much I respect and admire the author of this amendment, Senator Pryor. He and I served together…”

“I first want to say how much I respect and admire the author of this amendment, Senator Pryor. He and I served together as State attorneys general, he in Arkansas and I in Texas, for 4 years. Our careers overlapped. I agree with him about the important role that attorneys general play when it comes to protecting a State's citizens and a State's consumers. But I think where I part company with my friend Senator Pryor is, No. 1, this amendment is not necessary to preserve the authority of the State attorney general to protect the State's consumers, and, second, this amendment as worded--and I know this is not his intention--would create a potential loophole big enough to drive a truck through, that could cause substantial mischief that is intended to be prevented by this very bill. Finally, as Senator Carper has said, this is a negotiated bill. There are amendments I would like to offer that I think would make it a better bill. But I think we all realize that after many Senators have labored long and hard to try to get us to the point today where we literally have bipartisan support for this compromise, to offer any amendments, and particularly one like this and others that have been filed but not yet called up, would threaten our chance of success. I think that would be a shame because we all agree that the class action abuses we see are very real and are something that do not benefit the American people or consumers in general.”