Pete Sessions: “Republicans do listen to Democrats, and we have had a number of times where the Republican Party, the majority party…”

“Republicans do listen to Democrats, and we have had a number of times where the Republican Party, the majority party, has talked about tort reforms and other issues that are important to consumers. One of the persons that we have listened to repeatedly in this debate is perhaps one of the most successful trial lawyers who is now a United States Senator, and his name is John Edwards. Senator Edwards has written in Newsweek that ``lawyers who bring frivolous lawsuits should face tough mandatory sanctions with the `3-strikes' penalty.'' That is what Mr. Edwards has said. Senator Edwards has also said that he ``believes we need a national system in place that will weed out meritless lawsuits.'' That is exactly what H.R. 4571 would do. We are listening to the American people. We are listening to people who are lawyers who are engaged in the business of advocating on behalf of people who have been harmed. But sometimes those people know most about the system, as Senator John Edwards, who knows best that we need to reform the system. That is what we are doing here today.”